BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1413 HEARING DATE:
6/21/11
AUTHOR: Assembly E&R Comm. ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Political Reform Act of 1974
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides for all of the following:
Creates the Fair Political Practices Commission
(FPPC), and makes it responsible for the administration
and implementation of the Political Reform Act of 1974
(PRA).
Requires campaign statements to be open for public
inspection and reproduction from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
on the Saturday preceding a statewide primary or
statewide general election in the offices of the
Secretary of State (SOS), Registrar-Recorder of Los
Angeles County, the Registrar of Voters of San Diego
County, and the Registrar of Voters of the City and
County of San Francisco.
Provides for civil service classifications of staff
positions at the FPPC.
Requires, when a campaign statement is required to
disclose the name of a committee other than the
committee filing the report, that the statement also
include the number assigned to the committee by the
SOS.
This bill makes various minor and technical changes to the
PRA. Specifically, this bill:
Repeals a requirement that campaign statements must
be open for public inspection and reproduction from
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday preceding a
statewide primary or statewide general election in the
offices of the Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles
County, the Registrar of Voters of San Diego County,
and the Registrar of Voters of the City and County of
San Francisco.
Corrects an erroneous cross-reference in a provision
of the PRA that governs the civil service
classification of staff positions at the FPPC.
Corrects an erroneous cross-reference in a provision
of the PRA that governs the content of campaign
statements, thereby clarifying that when a candidate's
campaign statement identifies a committee that has
received contributions or made expenditures on behalf
of his or her candidacy, the statement must disclose
the number assigned to that committee by the SOS.
BACKGROUND
Availability of Campaign Statements : Until this year,
state law required statewide office holders, candidates for
statewide office, and certain other statewide campaign
committees to file a copy of all campaign reports with the
Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles and San Francisco
counties. To ensure that voters had access to these
campaign reports immediately before an election, existing
law also requires the offices of the SOS and of the
Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San
Francisco to be open for public inspection and reproduction
of campaign statements from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the
Saturday preceding a statewide primary or statewide general
election.
Last year, however, the Legislature approved and the
Governor signed AB 1181 (Huber), Chapter 18, Statutes of
2010, a bill that promoted the increased use of electronic
filing of campaign reports while eliminating the need for
duplicative paper copies of campaign reports to be filed in
certain circumstances.
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Among other provisions, AB 1181 eliminated the requirement
for statewide office holders, candidates for statewide
office, and certain other statewide campaign committees to
file a copy of all campaign reports with the Registrars of
Voters in Los Angeles and San Francisco counties. As a
result, these counties no longer receive paper copies of
these campaign reports, and will not be able to provide
that information to voters. Furthermore, given the
increased availability of these campaign reports online,
the counties have reported that it is uncommon for voters
to come to the office of the registrar of voters on the
Saturday before a statewide election to view or obtain
copies of campaign statements.
In light of the increased availability of campaign reports
online, and the fact that Los Angeles and San Francisco
counties no longer receive copies of campaign reports from
statewide office holders, candidates for statewide office,
and other statewide campaign committees, this bill would
repeal the requirement for the offices of the Registrars of
Voters in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco
counties to be open for public inspection and reproduction
of campaign statements on the Saturday preceding a
statewide primary or general election.
Additionally, this bill corrects two erroneous
cross-references in the PRA.
COMMENTS
According to the author , this is one of the Assembly
Elections and Redistricting Committee's annual omnibus
bills, containing various minor and technical changes to
the PRA.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-0
Assembly Floor: 78-0
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POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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