BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1117 HEARING DATE: 7/2/13
AUTHOR: DONNELLY ANALYSIS BY: Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 6/24/13
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Initiative and referendum petitions: electronic access
DESCRIPTION
Existing law provides that upon receipt of the circulating title
and summary for a state initiative from the Attorney General,
the Secretary of State (SOS) must, within one business day,
notify the proponents and county elections official of each
county of the official summary date and provide a copy of the
circulating title and summary to each county elections official.
This notification must also include a complete schedule showing
the maximum filing deadline, and the certification deadline by
the counties to the SOS.
Existing law specifies the format for petitions for state
initiative and referendum measures.
Existing law requires the SOS to prepare and provide to any
person, upon request, a pamphlet describing the procedures and
requirements for preparing and circulating a statewide
initiative measure and for filing sections of the petition, and
describing the procedure used in determining and verifying the
number of qualified voters who have signed the petition.
Existing law provides that it is unlawful for any elected state
or local officer, including any state or local appointee,
employee, or consultant, to use or permit others to use public
resources for a campaign activity, or personal or other purposes
which are not authorized by law. Pursuant to regulations of the
Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), "campaign activity"
includes payments made for the qualification or passage of any
ballot measure.
This bill would require the SOS to provide copies of initiative
and referendum petitions on his or her Internet Web site that
can be downloaded and printed. Specifically, this bill would
provide for all of the following:
The SOS must provide on his or her Internet Web site an
electronic mail address at which the proponent of a proposed
initiative or referendum measure may submit to the SOS a copy
of the petition for the proposed measure in portable document
format (PDF).
Within two business days of receiving a petition for a
proposed initiative or referendum measure in this manner, the
SOS must provide on his or her Internet Web site a hyperlink
that is easily accessible to the public and makes available
the petition for the proposed initiative or referendum measure
in a format that can be downloaded and printed. If the SOS
maintains an Internet Web page regarding proposed initiative
and referendum measures currently in circulation, the
hyperlink must be made available on that Internet Web page.
The SOS must include on the Internet Web page from which a
petition for a proposed initiative or referendum measure may
be downloaded and printed a disclaimer stating that the
petition was prepared by the proponent of the proposed
measure, that the proponent is solely responsible for its
contents, and that the SOS does not warrant or represent that
the petition is in correct legal form.
The SOS must remove a hyperlink to a petition for a proposed
initiative or referendum measure placed on his or her Internet
Web site within two business days after the final date for
circulation of the petition.
BACKGROUND
Other States . According to the National Conference of State
Legislatures (NCSL), California is one of 24 states that have an
initiative process. Of those 24 states, six states permit
initiatives for statutes only, three states permit initiatives
for constitutional amendments only, and the remaining 15 states
permit initiatives both for constitutional amendments and for
statutes. Two states permit referenda, but not initiatives,
meaning that 26 states permit either initiatives, referenda, or
both.
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Of the states that permit either the initiative or the
referendum process, only two (Mississippi and Nevada) appear to
post petitions for the proposed initiative or referendum
measures on a governmental Web site.
COMMENTS
1.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. This bill brings the
initiative process into the 21st Century, taking its cue from
other parts of government, which have improved upon outdated
methods of communication and interaction.
Waiting in line at the DMV to renew a driver's license, or
register to vote, are both becoming things of the past,
replaced by the efficiency and cost effectiveness of
technology. Why should Californians be forced to fill out a
petition form in public, when the technology exists to allow
them to fill out the same form in the privacy of their own
home?
Existing law specifies the process by which a statewide
initiative measure may qualify for the ballot. Furthermore,
existing law requires the SOS to prepare and provide, upon
request, a pamphlet describing certain aspects of the
qualification process. However, existing law does not contain
provisions giving voters online access to petitions currently
in circulation.
This bill would give Californians the ability to download, from
the SOS's website, print, and sign any petition for an
initiative or a referendum measure currently in circulation.
AB 1117 would require the SOS to make available on its website
the petition for any and all initiative or referendum measures
currently in circulation; thus facilitating easy access to
these petitions for voters.
2.SOS Opposition . In opposition to this bill, Secretary of
State Debra Bowen writes:
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"Under existing law, initiative and referendum proponents
already can choose to post and circulate downloadable
petitions on the lnternet. Under Elections Code sections
106(b) and 9021, voters can - and do right now - effectively
'self-circulate' an initiative or referendum petition. This
allows people to sign an initiative or referendum petition at
their convenience and to send the form to the initiative or
referendum proponents. Also under current practice, when an
initiative or referendum proponent provides contact
information to my office, it is posted on my website to make
it easy for members of the public to contact initiative or
referendum proponents.
The idea behind AB 1117 is to allow people to download an
initiative or referendum petition from the Secretary of
State's website and to collect multiple signatures on that
petition before submitting it to the initiative or referendum
proponents. My opposition to this measure is a result of the
following concerns:
As a matter of practice, initiative and referendum
petitions are printed on a single piece of paper so the
title, summary, and text of the measure appear on a single
page with the signatures of voters. This cuts down on the
potential for accidental and intentional circulator fraud.
This "single piece of paper" approach will not be possible
under AB 1117 because most people print on 8.5" x 1 1"
paper at home. This will make it easier for circulators to
defraud signers by, for example, not presenting the entire
petition to people for review or by collecting signatures
for one measure and then attaching the signatures to
another measure.
There are many laws to which petition circulators are
required to adhere. For example, they must be a registered
voter or qualified to register to vote and they must keep
the signatures they collect confidential. The failure to
adhere to these and other requirements may have an impact
on the voter who signs such a petition, whether it be from
not having their signature counted, or worse, having their
signature and home address misused by the person collecting
signatures.
By requiring the Secretary of State to provide
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initiative and referendum petitions to the public through a
state website, this measure transfers some of the costs
associated with an initiative or referendum campaign from a
private proponent to the state's taxpayers. I do not feel
this cost shift is appropriate."
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-1
Assembly Floor: 72-1
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Common Cause
Oppose: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
Secretary of State
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