BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1413| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 AB 1413 Page 2 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 AB 1413 Page 3 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. AB 1413 Page 4 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 **** END **** AB 1413 Page 5