BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 334 (DeSaulnier)
Hearing Date: 5/26/2011 Amended: 4/26/2011
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz Policy Vote: E&CA 3-2
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 334 requires the Secretary of State to include
in a ballot pamphlet a list of the five highest contributors to
each primarily formed committee supporting each state measure
and the total amount of their contributions.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Ballot costs ----unknown,
potentially $132 per
statewide election---- General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
To the extent that the additional information required under the
provisions of this bill extends the length of the ballot and
requires extra pages, there would be additional expenses of
approximately $66,000 per page for printing and mailing costs.
However, the Secretary of State's office formats the Voter
Information Guide in 16 page increments so oftentimes there are
blank pages that could be used for these purposes. Therefore,
actual costs are unknown and will be dependent on the number of
initiatives as well as available ballot space.
The statewide ballot pamphlet is currently required to contain
the following information:
a) A complete copy of each measure
b) A copy of the arguments and rebuttals for and against each
state measure
c) A copy of the analysis of each state measure by the
Legislative Analyst
SB 334 (DeSaulnier)
Page 1
d) Other information that the Secretary of State determines
will make the ballot pamphlet easier to understand such as
tables of contents, indexes, art or graphics.
SB 334 will add the requirement that the pamphlet include,
immediately below the analysis by the Legislative Analyst, a
list of the five highest contributors to each primarily formed
committee supporting each state measure and the total amount of
each of their contributions. If a contributor is a committee
controlled by a candidate, the name of the candidate must be
listed and if a contributor is a sponsored committee, the name
of the sponsor shall be listed.
SB 334 also requries a printed statement to appear in the state
ballot pamphlet substantially similar to the following: "To
learn who contributed to committees supporting or opposing each
state measure, access the Secretary of State's Internet Web
site" (and list the applicable Web site address).
Also required is a statement that the list reflects only the
highest contributors of contributions received before the 110
days before Election Day (or a later date in the case of special
elections if the Secretary of State determines the 110 day
provision is infeasible). The 110 day cut-off period
accommodates the schedule by which the statewide ballot pamphlet
must be finalized prior to printing. Since the expenses
associated with qualifying a statewide initiative usually exceed
$1 million, the ballot pamphlet would disclose, among others,
those entities responsible for funding the qualification effort.
Current law already requires that any advertisement for or
against any ballot measure to include a disclosure statement
identifying any person whose cumulative contributions are
$50,000 or more.
The following list indicates the number of ballot measures which
were on statewide ballots for elections held during the last
several years:
June 2010 - nine
May 2009 - six
November 2008 - twelve
June 2008 - two
SB 334 (DeSaulnier)
Page 2
November 2006 - thirteen
This bill is similar to SB 1202 (DeSaulnier) which was vetoed
last year. In part, the Governor's veto message indicated it
would "create confusion for voters and encourage late
contributions?.and the measure creates significant cost pressure
to print information that is already available on the Secretary
of State website?" This bill is also similar to AB 65 (Gatto)
which is currently pending in the Senate Elections and
Constitutional Amendments Committee.
SB 334 amends the Political Reform Act of 1974 and will,
therefore, require a 2/3rd floor vote.