BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS Senator Lou Correa, Chair BILL NO: SB 327 HEARING DATE: 4/5/11 AUTHOR: Senate E&CA Comm. ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon Estoista AMENDED: 3/21/11 FISCAL: YES SUBJECT Elections: procedure DESCRIPTION Existing law requires that a notice of intention (NOI) and the title and summary of a local ordinance proposed to be submitted to the voters of an incorporated city be published or posted. This bill clarifies that the text of the proposed measure is not required to be published or posted. Existing law requires that a candidate for an elective office of a city may be nominated by the voters by the filing of nomination papers provided by the city elections official. Existing law also requires that each nomination paper be accompanied by a verified statement of the candidate that he or she will accept the nomination, and will also accept the office in the event of his or her election. This bill would require the verified statement of the candidate to include a statement indicating his or her residence address. BACKGROUND SB 327 is one of the committee's annual omnibus bills that provides clarifying changes to multiple elections code references and also makes minor technical and conforming changes. This current omnibus bill will do the following: Provide clarity to a section of the Elections Code (EC) to clearly state that the NOI, without the proposed text of the initiative, be published or posted. The EC currently requires the text of the initiative to be filed with the elections official with the NOI. Provide a clear statement of the candidate's residence address, regardless of whether he or she circulates the Nomination Paper themselves by repeating the same single sentence from the circulator affidavit to the nominee affidavit: My residence address is __________." Make the EC consistent with other Sections by referencing "close of business" instead of 5:00 p.m. COMMENTS 1.Each year the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee introduces omnibus legislation to make various non-controversial changes to the Elections Code. Assuming this measure is approved by the committee, other technical changes to the Elections Code may be added to the bill. As with all omnibus measures, any provision that generates any opposition will be removed from the bill. 2.SB 327 was flagged fiscal by Legislative Counsel due to the addition of a single sentence on an existing form. There is nothing preventing city elections officials from depleting their existing stock, before reprinting with the required change. This minor change on the statement of the candidate forms should neither increase nor decrease direct costs in any significant manner. The addition of a single sentence on an existing form will be nominal in printing costs at best, and should provide actual cost savings for the locals in personnel time when it becomes necessary to research and determine a candidate's residence address. POSITIONS SB 327 (SENATE E&CA COMM.) Page 2 Sponsor: Author (Committee) Support: California Association of Clerks and Election Officials (CACEO) City Clerks Association of California (CCAC) Oppose: None received SB 327 (SENATE E&CA COMM.) Page 3