BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1117
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1117 (Donnelly)
As Amended March 21, 2013
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 5-0 APPROPRIATIONS 16-1
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|Ayes:|Fong, Donnelly, Bonta, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, |
| |Logue, Perea | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| | | |Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| | | |Ammiano, Linder, Pan, |
| | | |Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Hall |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to make
petitions for proposed state initiative and referendum measures
available on his or her Internet Web site. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Requires the SOS to make available the petition for a state
initiative or referendum measure that is currently in
circulation in a format that can be downloaded from the SOS's
official Internet Web site and printed so a voter may sign the
petition and submit it to the proponent or proponents by mail.
2)Requires the SOS to make the mailing address where a signed
petition can be sent available to the public on the SOS's
official Internet Web site.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, ongoing General Fund costs of about $60,000 to the
SOS for part-time counsel to review petitions to verify accuracy
and for an analyst to post petitions, in a downloadable format,
and mailing addresses on the office Web site.
The SOS notes that requirements for how a petition is printed,
what language is included, what font size is used, etc., are
AB 1117
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very precise. If a petition is not properly printed, it can be
grounds for challenge by opponents. The SOS does not currently
review petitions for legal correctness, but would likely have to
begin doing so to ensure that well-intentioned voters visiting
the SOS Web site are not disenfranchised by a legally incorrect
petition provided by a proponent.
The SOS also points out that proponents often begin by
circulating more than one version of their measure and decide
later which version they will use. Under this bill, versions
would be available for signature for the duration of the
signature qualification period. This could mislead voters as to
which version on the SOS Web site they should sign.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Californians can renew
their driver's licenses online, they can even register to vote
online, but they cannot access an initiative petition online.
AB 1117 simply gives Californians online access to California's
initiative process. In order to be effective, government must
be efficient. This bill streamlines the initiative and
referendum process, by giving voters online access to initiative
and referendum petitions currently in circulation."
There is nothing in existing law that prohibits petitions for
proposed state initiative or referendum measures from being made
available online for voters to download, print, sign, and
mail-in. In light of this fact, if making petitions available
online for potential signers to download is an effective method
of gathering signatures for proposed measures, initiative and
referendum proponents can make their petitions available online
for potential signers. Traditionally, it has been the
responsibility of the proponents of an initiative or referendum
measure to prepare the petitions to qualify that measure for the
ballot, subject to certain formatting requirements. Although
the SOS has developed a sample petition as part of the statewide
initiative guide that the office prepares as required by state
law, that office does not prepare or produce petitions for
actual initiative or referendum measures. This bill would
require the SOS, for the first time, to be responsible for
preparing initiative and referendum petitions that can be used
to collect signatures to qualify measures for the ballot.
Of the states that permit either the initiative or the
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referendum process, only two (Mississippi and Nevada) appear to
post petitions for the proposed initiative or referendum
measures on a governmental Internet Web site.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0000440