BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Senator Noreen Evans, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
AB 1405 (Committee on Judiciary)
As Introduced
Hearing Date: June 18, 2013
Fiscal: Yes
Urgency: No
RD
SUBJECT
Subversive Organization Registration Law: Repeal
DESCRIPTION
This bill would repeal the existing requirement for subversive
organizations conceived for the purpose of undermining and
eventually destroying the democratic form of government in this
State and in the United States to register with the Secretary of
State.
BACKGROUND
In 1941, in midst of World War II, the Subversive Organization
Registration Act (SORA) was enacted in California to require the
registration of organizations that may promote or seek the
overthrow of the United States or California government, or that
are under control of a foreign government, as specified. (SB
132 (Biggar), Ch. 183, Stats. 1941.) Since renamed as the
Subversive Organization Registration Law (SORL), and largely
unchanged since added to the Corporations Code in 1947, this law
was "enacted in the exercise of the police power of this State
for the protection of the public peace and safety by requiring
the registration of subversive organizations which are conceived
and exist for the purpose of undermining and eventually
destroying the democratic form of government in this State and
in the United States." (See Corp. Code Sec. 35000 et seq.; AB
1751 (Davis, Sherwin, Brown, Crichton, Grunksy, Ch. 1038, Stats.
1947.) For these purposes, a subversive organization is any
corporation, association, society, camp, group, bund, political
party, assembly, and every body of organization composed of two
or more persons or members, that either or both (1) directly or
(more)
AB 1405 (Committee on Judiciary)
Page 2 of ?
indirectly advocates, advises, teaches, or practices, the duty,
necessity, or propriety of controlling, conducting, seizing, or
overthrowing the U.S. or California government or of any
political subdivision thereof by force or violence, or (2) is
subject to foreign control, as defined.
This bill would repeal the SORL, in its entirety.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
Existing law establishes the Subversive Organization
Registration Law and requires every subversive organization to
register and file specified information with the Secretary of
State at various times, subject to public inspection. Among
other things, existing law also prohibits any subversive
organization from sending, delivering, mailing, or transmitting,
or suffering or permitting to be sent, delivered, mailed, or
transmitted, to any person in this State who is not a member of
the organization any anonymous letter, document, leaflet, or
other written or printed matter. (Corp. Code Sec. 35000 et
seq.)
Existing law provides that any subversive organization which
violates any provision of this law, and any officer or member of
the board of directors, board of trustees, executive committee,
or other governing body of a subversive organization that
violates any provision of this law or permits or acquiesces in
the violation of any provision of this law, is guilty of a
felony, as specified. Any person who becomes or remains a
member of any subversive organization, or attends a meeting
thereof, with knowledge that the organization has failed to
comply with any provision of this law, is guilty of a
misdemeanor, as specified. (Corp. Code Secs. 35300, 35301,
35302.)
Existing law defines "subversive organization" to mean every
corporation, association, society, camp, group, bund, political
party, assembly, and every body or organization composed of two
or more persons or members, which comes within either or both of
the following descriptions:
which directly or indirectly advocates, advises, teaches, or
practices, the duty, necessity or propriety of controlling,
conducting, seizing, or overthrowing the government of the
United States, of this State, or of any political subdivision
thereof by force or violence; or
which is subject to foreign control, as defined. (Corp. Code
AB 1405 (Committee on Judiciary)
Page 3 of ?
Sec. 35002.)
Existing law provides that an organization is "subject to
foreign control" if either:
it solicits or accepts financial contributions, loans, or
support of any kind directly or indirectly from, or is
affiliated directly or indirectly with, a foreign government
or political subdivision thereof, an agent, agency, or
instrumentality of a foreign government or political
subdivision thereof, a political party in a foreign country,
or an international political organization; or
its policies, or any of them, are determined by or at the
suggestion of, or in collaboration with, a foreign government
or political subdivision thereof, an agent, agency, or
instrumentality of a foreign government or a political
subdivision thereof, a political party in a foreign country,
or an international political organization. (Corp. Code Sec.
35003.)
Existing law exempts from the definition of subversive
organization any labor unions, religious, fraternal, or
patriotic organizations, societies, or associations whose
objectives and aims do not contemplate the overthrow of the U.S.
or California government, or of any political subdivision
thereof by force or violence. (Corp. Code Sec. 35004.)
This bill would repeal the Subversive Organization
Reorganization Law in its entirety.
COMMENT
1. Stated need for the bill
According to the author:
Among other things, the [Subversive Organization Registration
Law (SORL)] requires a subversive organization to file with
the Secretary of State information identifying the times and
places of its meetings, the names of its officers and members,
and copies of any literature that it distributes to its
members or that its members distribute to others. It also
provides that any person who becomes or remains a member of
any subversive organization, or attends a meeting thereof,
with knowledge that the organization has failed to register
with the Secretary of State or comply with other requirements,
is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by fine or imprisonment.
AB 1405 (Committee on Judiciary)
Page 4 of ?
First, the SORL is likely unconstitutional and violates
protections of free speech, freedom of association, and
political affiliation. Second, given the vagueness of some of
its language, the SORL creates a real potential for abuse
against groups that may have unpopular political views.
Finally, as over sixty years of experience have demonstrated,
the SORL is an outdated, unutilized, and ineffective statute.
[This bill] repeals the [SORL].
In support of the bill, the American Civil Liberties Union
writes that "[t]his bill properly repeals antiquated and
unconstitutional language related to registration of so called
'subversive' groups. This statute is an unnecessary statutory
remnant of the McCarthy era and is inconsistent with
constitutional protections of free speech, freedom of
association, and political affiliations."
2. Existing law's Subversive Organization Registration Law is
likely ineffective, if not unconstitutional
This bill would repeal the Subversive Organization Registration
Law (SORL) that, together with its predecessor act, for over 70
years, has required organizations seeking to advocate the
violent or forceful overthrow this State's or the U.S.
government, or that are otherwise subject to control of a
foreign country, to register and file certain information with
the Secretary of State (SOS), subject to specified criminal
penalties.
Of note, existing law does not prohibit these entities from
existing or even prohibit attempts to overthrow the government
by force or violence. Rather, the SORL makes these entities and
its members subject to specified crimes, including the
possibility of a felony that is punishable by up to $10,000 or
imprisonment, or both, for failure to comply with the
registration requirements of the bill or failure to comply with
the prohibition against distribution of written materials to
non-members.
The author asserts that, in doing so, this law arguably violates
the First Amendment protections of free speech and the right of
association. Again, the law does not actually prohibit these
AB 1405 (Committee on Judiciary)
Page 5 of ?
organizations from existing or assembling or engaging in speech
advocating the overthrow of government-it prohibits them from
doing so without properly registering with the SOS. That being
said, the SORL does prohibit these organizations from engaging
in speech insofar as it prohibits the distribution of anonymous
letters, leaflets, documents or other written or printed matter
to any person in this State who is not a member of the
organization. The argument could also be made that this law
also violates the First Amendment by seeking to discourage any
organizations from formulating and engaging in speech that
criticizes their government in violation of the First Amendment,
not to mention it appears to promote blacklisting reminiscent of
the McCarthy era, as noted by the ACLU in Comment 1, above.
Unlike other corporation laws that require registration of
specified business entities or nonprofits, irrespective of their
purpose, the SORL appears to target and require the registration
of organizations - again, subject to criminal penalties -
because of their anti-government viewpoint.
Furthermore, it is appears unlikely that any group truly seeking
to overthrow, or advocate the overthrow of, the state or the
U.S. government, by force or violence, would openly register
with the Secretary of State or other governmental entity-even at
risk of incurring fines or imprisonment. To that end, Committee
staff is unaware of any subversive organizations that have
actually filed with the Secretary of State in the last 68 years
under this law. It is more likely that the law would be used
against those organizations that are critical of their
government, but do not seek to advocate the violent or forceful
overthrow of that government.
In fact, the only case law that staff and the author are aware
of involves a 1945 case, People v. Noble (1945) 68 Cal.App.2d
853, relating to the 1942 indictment of a group of individuals
under the SORA for failure to comply with the act as members of
the governing body of an organization called "Friends of
Progress," which was shown to be supportive of Mussolini, Hitler
and Nazi Germany, as well as Japan after the attack on Pearl
Harbor. (The evidence also showed that the defendants/appellants
were sympathizers or members of the German-American Bund, which
was an American fascist organization that was sympathetic to
Hitler and sought "to promote the interest of the Third Reich in
America and to bring about a closer appreciation of German
culture by the people of America." (Id. at 860).) There, the
Court of Appeal expressed contempt for the statements, actions,
and conduct of the appellants, but nonetheless reversed the
AB 1405 (Committee on Judiciary)
Page 6 of ?
conviction as the evidence did not show that the members sought
to overthrow the government by force or violence, or were
subject to foreign control. (Id. at 886-890.) Interestingly,
while the court never reached the question of constitutionality
of the act, the court made note that they "are in grave doubt as
to the constitutionality of the [SORA]" in terms of the act's
potential conflict with federal law under the Supremacy Clause.
(Id. at 892.) Presumably, similar questions of
constitutionality would exist with the current SORL.
This bill would remove any doubts as to the efficacy and
constitutionality of this by repealing the SORL, in its
entirety.
Support : American Civil Liberties Union
Opposition : None Known
HISTORY
Source : Author
Related Pending Legislation : None Known
Prior Legislation : None Known
Prior Vote :
Assembly Floor (Ayes 69, Noes 0)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (Ayes 16, Noes 0)
Assembly Judiciary Committee (Ayes 8, Noes 0)
**************