BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1413|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1413
Author: Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee
Amended: 8/17/11 in Senate
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/21/11
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, De León, Gaines, Lieu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/19/11 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: omnibus bill
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This committee bill makes minor and technical
changes to the Political Reform Act of 1974, including
correcting two erroneous cross-references and conforming to
recent legislation that eliminated the requirement for
paper copies of certain campaign reports regarding
statewide candidates and measures be filed with Los Angeles
and San Francisco Counties.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/17/11 prevent a
"chaptering-out" problem with AB 1146 (Norby).
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
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Existing law:
1. Creates the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC),
and makes it responsible for the impartial, effective
administration and
implementation of the Political Reform Act of 1974
(PRA).
2. 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, 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.
3. Prohibits any non-clerical staff position at the FPPC
from being included in the same class in the civil
service classification plan with any position of any
other department or agency.
4. 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
Secretary of State.
This bill:
1. 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.
2. Corrects an erroneous cross-reference in a provision of
the PRA that governs the civil service classification of
staff positions at the FPPC.
3. Corrects an erroneous cross-reference in a provision of
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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/her
candidacy, the statement must disclose the number
assigned to that committee by the Secretary of State.
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 Secretary of State 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.
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.
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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 repeals
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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/19/11 (Consent)
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Gorell
DLW:mw 8/18/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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