BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1272
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 8, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    SB 1272 (Kehoe) - As Amended:  August 6, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes several changes to Elections Code provisions 
          regarding county central political party committee elections, 
          including:

          1)Deleting the requirement that county central committee members 
            of the Democratic Party, Republican Party, the American 
            Independent Party, and the Peace and Freedom Party be elected 
            at every statewide direct primary election, and permitting 
            members of these parties to be elected at every presidential 
            primary election.

          2)Permitting, in general, committee members of each of the above 
            parties to select its members at any time by holding a caucus 
            or convention or by any other method of selection approved by 
            the committee. (There are variations to this provision 
            specific to each of the parties.)

          3)Requiring nomination documents to be available to candidates 
            for membership on a county central committee beginning on the 
            158th day, rather than the 113th day, prior to the primary 
            election.

          4)Deleting the option for one of these parties' central 
            committees, if the number of its candidates does not exceed 
            the number of offices available, to require elections 
            officials to nevertheless print the names of all candidates on 
            the ballot in order to allow for write-in candidates.

          5)Makes the bill's provisions severable.

           FISCAL EFFECT  








                                                                  SB 1272
                                                                  Page  2


          Changing central committee elections, through the primary 
          election system, to every four instead of every two years will 
          provide significant savings to counties. (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.)

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  . County central committees of the American 
            Independent, Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Republican, and 
            Peace and Freedom parties are elected every two years at 
            statewide direct primary elections.  According to the 
            California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials 
            (CACEO), a significant proportion of all candidates who file 
            to run for any office are county central committee candidates. 
            For example, in the June 2010 statewide direct primary, for 25 
            of the 53 counties that provided data, county central 
            committee candidates represented 50% or more of the total 
            number of candidates that filed for office. According to 
            county representatives, many county central committee 
            candidates are first-time candidates and usually less 
            experienced with the process, thus requiring more time and 
            assistance from county elections staff.  Additionally, staff 
            time is also spent on, among other tasks, checking signatures 
            and translating and proofing materials for county central 
            committee contests, which typically do not end up on the 
            ballot as there often are fewer candidates than the number of 
            open offices. Unlike other candidates, county central 
            committee candidates do not pay filing fees, and the cost of 
            their elections is completely subsidized by county government.

           2)Purpose  . According to the author, "This bill reduces county 
            expenses by holding central committee elections every four 
            years - not every two years - during direct presidential 
            primaries.  Political parties that need to hold elections more 
            often would retain authority to have as many elections as 
            deemed necessary using by holding elections outside of the 
            state process using internal party means.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 










                                                                  SB 1272
                                                                  Page  3