BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 327| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ CONSENT Bill No: SB 327 Author: Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee Amended: 4/26/11 Vote: 21 SENATE ELEC. & CONST. AMENDMENTS COMMITTEE : 4-0, 4/05/11 AYES: Correa, La Malfa, De León, Gaines NO VOTE RECORDED: Lieu SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT : Elections: procedure SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill (1) clarifies the text of a local proposed measure will not be required to be published or posted, (2) requires the verified statement of a candidate to include a statement indicating his/her residence, and (3) revises the deadline when nomination papers are to be filed by. ANALYSIS : 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. CONTINUED SB 327 Page 2 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/ she will accept the nomination, and will also accept the office in the event of his/her election. This bill requires the verified statement of the candidate to include a statement indicating his/her residence address. The bill permits elections officials to deplete the supply of existing nomination paper forms prior to providing a new or revised forms, and places a sunset on the provision on January 1, 2013. Existing law specifies that the nomination documents for candidates in elections consolidated with regularly scheduled elections shall be filed not later than 5 p.m. on the 88th day prior to the regularly scheduled elections, unless an incumbent has not filed nomination papers by that day and time, in which case a person other than an incumbent shall have until 5 p.m. on the 83rd day before the election to the nomination papers. Background This bill is one of the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments 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. CONTINUED SB 327 Page 3 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. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes SUPPORT : (Verified 5/2/11) California Association of Clerks and Election Officials City Clerks Association of California ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the City Clerks Association of California (CCAC), "SB 327 will neither increase nor decrease direct costs in any significant manner, particularly related to the alteration of the form of the nomination statement. The addition of a single sentence on an existing form will be nominal in printing costs. Furthermore, there will be an indirect cost savings for local government realized in personnel time when it becomes necessary to research and determine a candidate's residence address after nomination papers are filed. SB 327 provides clarity and consistency to existing Elections Code section. For these reasons, CCAC strongly supports SB 327." DLW:do 5/4/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED