BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 441|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
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|327-4478 | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 441
Author: Vargas (D)
Amended: 7/12/11
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & C. A. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 4/05/11
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, De León, Gaines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lieu
SENATE FLOOR : 30-7, 4/11/11
AYES: Alquist, Berryhill, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De
León, DeSaulnier, Dutton, Emmerson, Evans, Gaines,
Hancock, Harman, Hernandez, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno, Liu,
Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Rubio,
Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Fuller, Huff, Runner, Strickland, Walters,
Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee, Calderon, Lieu
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 56-21, 8/31/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: contributions
SOURCE : California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
DIGEST : This bill repeals existing law which permits the
county central committee of each qualified political party
to supply county elections officials with party
contribution envelopes or letters, as specified, to be
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included with the mailing of the sample ballot to each of
the registered voters who indicated the same political
party affiliation.
Assembly Amendments do not make any substantive changes
from the Senate version of the bill.
ANALYSIS : Existing law allows the county central
committee of each qualified political party to supply to
its county elections official, not less than 83 days prior
to the direct primary election, a party contributor
envelope or a one-page letter, in which both sides may be
utilized, to be included in the mailing of the sample
ballot to each of the registered voters in the county who
have disclosed a preference for that same party on the
voter's affidavit of registration. In lieu of supplying
the elections official with a sufficient number of copies
of the one-page letter, a county central committee may
supply the elections official, not less than 83 days before
the direct primary election, with the text of the letter
and request the elections official to print, or cause to be
printed, a sufficient number of copies of the letter to
accommodate the mailing. The elections official shall
notify the respective county committee of, and the
committee shall reimburse the county for, any actual costs
incurred by the inclusion or printing, or both. The
elections official may require the county committee to post
a bond to ensure the reimbursement.
This bill repeals these provisions thereby no longer
permitting party central committees to place these
solicitations in sample ballots.
While qualified party central committees are currently
permitted to include letters or party contributor envelopes
in county sample ballot booklets to solicit funds for the
party, SCA 4 (Maldonado), Resolution Chapter 2, Statutes of
2009, and implementing language of SB 6 (Maldonado),
Chapter 1, Statutes of 2009, changed the playing field.
The implementation of the new "top two" primary election
system requires all candidates for partisan office to
appear together on primary election ballots, virtually
eliminating political-party-specific voter information
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materials and partisan elections - excluding the office of
President and county central committees. As such, this
change in how primary elections are conducted impacts the
ability to effectively distribute political party central
committee materials.
Comments
According to the author's office, current law allows party
central committees to include letters or envelopes in
county sample ballot booklets to solicit funds for the
party. In the June 2010 Statewide Primary Election, in the
counties of San Diego, Yolo, and Los Angeles, central
committees included letters which not only solicited funds,
but also advocated for the election of certain candidates.
In San Diego County, the mailing was so focused on the
central committee's preferred candidates, that it had the
appearance of a slate mailer. San Diego County was sued by
an opposing party and was forced to spend over $25,000 in
legal fees to defend the mailing when in fact the County
was merely complying with current law. A superior court
upheld the ruling; but the matter is now on appeal and the
County is accused of subsidizing the mailing. Counties are
simply not in a fiscal position to mount a legal defense of
the practice of private organizations such as organized
central committees. In addition, with the new "top two"
primary election rules, all candidates for partisan office
will appear together on primary election ballots.
Therefore, there will be no separate sample ballot booklets
by party and in fact the concept of separate partisan
elections has been eliminated for all contests except
President and county central committees. The Counties'
ability to distribute these contributor envelopes and
letters will be impeded by the lack of separate party
booklets.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/31/11)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
(source)
County of Alpine (Barbara Howard/County Clerk/Registrar of
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Voters)
County of Contra Costa (Stephen L. Weir/County
Clerk-Recorder)
County of Lake (Diane C. Fridley/Registrar of Voters)
County of Los Angeles (Dean C.
Logan/Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk)
County of Merced (Karen D. Adams/County Clerk)
County of Plumas (Kathy Williams/County
Clerk/Recorder/Registrar of Voters)
County of San Diego (Deborah Seiler/Registrar of Voters)
County of Santa Barbara (Joseph E. Holland/County
Clerk/Assessor/ Recorder/Registrar of Voters)
County of Santa Cruz (Gail L. Pellerin/County Clerk)
County of Shasta (Cathy Darling Allen/County
Clerk/Registrar of Voters)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 56-21, 8/31/11
AYES: Achadjian, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Gatto,
Gordon, Halderman, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Fletcher, Garrick, Grove,
Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor,
Miller, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Silva, Smyth,
Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Alejo, Gorell, Monning
DLW:mw 8/31/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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