BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1272 HEARING DATE: 4/19/12
AUTHOR: KEHOE ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Political party organization: county central committees
DESCRIPTION
Existing law establishes the political party organization of the
Democratic Party of California, the California Republican Party,
the American Independent Party of California, and the Peace and
Freedom Party of California. Existing law requires the members
of a county central committee of each of those parties be
elected in each county at every statewide direct primary
election.
This bill would delete the requirement that county central
committee members be elected at every statewide direct primary
election and instead would only permit those members to be
elected at every presidential primary election.
This bill would also specify that a county central committee of
any of the parties noted above, in accordance with the rules and
regulations adopted by their respective committee, may select
its members at any time by holding a caucus or convention, or by
using any other method of selection approved by the committee.
BACKGROUND
County central committees and county councils are non-public
offices comprised of members of political parties who are
involved in party fund-raising and candidate-endorsement
activities. County elections officials are required to conduct
elections for these non-public offices in all direct primary
elections.
Unlike other candidates, county central committee/county council
candidates do not pay filing fees. The cost of their elections
is completely subsidized by county government. According to a
survey conducted by the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, in
the June 2008 Primary Election, county central committee/county
council costs reported by 20 of the 58 counties totaled $2.8
million statewide.
When do central committee elections occur ? Current law requires
the central committees of the American Independent, Democratic,
Republican, and Peace and Freedom parties be elected at every
statewide direct primary election (two year intervals).
The California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
states that, until recently, the state had a "modified open"
primary election system that restricted voters to the ballot of
the party with which they chose to affiliate. Under the
"modified open" primary, only those voters who were not
affiliated with a qualified political party were able to select
the ballot of any party which allowed them to participate. No
party allowed unaffiliated voters to participate in their county
central committee and county council elections. Counties
printed a separate ballot for voters in each political party .
In June 2010, voters adopted the "Top Two" primary election
system, which essentially eliminates separate partisan primary
elections at the state level. Under this new system, all
voter-nominated (formerly called "partisan") contests will
appear on a single ballot, and voters will be able to select
candidates regardless of the voter's or the candidate's
political party affiliation. County elections officials are
studying the effects of the "Top Two" primary election system,
and most counties estimate they will require at least one, and
in many cases two, extra ballots unless central committee and
county council contests are eliminated from the ballot.
In the June 5, 2012 Primary Election, Democrats will allow
nonpartisan voters to participate in their presidential primary
but not in the central committee contest. This necessitates a
separate ballot for nonpartisan voters who are entitled to vote
in the Democratic presidential primary but not the Democratic
SB 1272 (KEHOE) Page 2
central committee contests
In the 2014 primary, the effect of central committees will be
even more pronounced because it is the only partisan contest in
the election. All voters will receive a generic ballot except
those permitted to vote in central committee contests, who will
receive an additional ballot. If all voters in parties that
generally have central committee contests received this
ballot-roughly 7.5 million Democrats and 5.3 million
Republicans-the printing cost alone will be $3.6 million.
By moving central committee elections to presidential primaries,
counties will not have to print partisan, party specific ballots
for gubernatorial primary elections.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : Current law specifies various
procedures for conducting County Central Committee elections
for specified political parties: the American Independent,
Democratic, Peace and Freedom, and Republican parties. SB
1272 seeks to amend the frequency by which counties must
conduct those elections.
The sole subject of this bill is the frequency by which central
committee elections must occur. Elections Code provides that
country central committee members for each of the four
parties mentioned above shall be elected in each county at
every statewide direct primary election. The effect of that
provision is to require county central committee elections
every two years, but that provision has proved costly for
counties. Although this bill would specify that publicly
funded ballot elections for central committee members will
happen every four years instead of every two years, parties
may still opt to have two-year central committee member terms
by selecting membership using internal party procedures
outside of the public election process.
Political parties have statutory authority to opt not to use
the state elections process to select their central committee
members. In Wilson v. San Luis Obispo County Democratic
Central Committee (2009), the 2nd District California Court
SB 1272 (KEHOE) Page 3
of Appeal affirmed that political parties have the right to
select central committee members using internal machinations
that do not involve publicly funded ballot elections.
SB 1272 is a measure that seeks to provide counties with
fiscal relief by reducing the taxpayer funded costs
associated with political party central committee elections.
Although the inclusive amount of cost savings to taxpayers is
unknown, any measure that seeks to provide fiscal relief to
cash strapped local governments is timely and necessary.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Alpine County Clerk
California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
Contra Costa County Clerk
Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections
Secretary of State
Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
Oppose: None received
SB 1272 (KEHOE) Page 4