BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1851 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1851 (Allen) - As Amended: April 24, 2012 Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: No SUMMARY This bill requires county elections officials to allow for public access to the proponent's county, municipal, or special district initiative measure materials that are filed with the elections officials pursuant to current law. Specifically, this bill requires county elections officials to: 1)Keep on file these materials until the day after it is determined the initiative petition does not qualify, the day after the election, or the day after the proposed ordinance is adopted by the appropriate governing board. 2)Furnish copies of the materials to any person upon request. Elections officials may charge a fee not exceeding the actual cost of providing the copies. FISCAL EFFECT Minor costs to counties, covered by fees, to provide copies upon request of initiative materials. COMMENTS 1)Background . Current law requires proponents of an initiative, before circulating any initiative petition in a county, city, or special district, to file with the county elections official a notice of intention to do so. The notice must include the names and business or residence addresses of at least one, but no more than five, proponents of the petition, and be accompanied by the written text of the initiative and request that a ballot title and summary be prepared. The notice of intention may also include a printed statement, not AB 1851 Page 2 exceeding 500 words, stating the reason for the proposed initiative. 2)Purpose . The author notes that, once the title and summary has been furnished to the proponents, the elections official is not required to retain the materials described above on file as a matter of public record. AB 1851 is intended to increase transparency and make as much information as possible available to voters by requiring that these materials be kept on file and made available to anyone, for a fee, while the initiative is being circulated or is pending before the voters. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081