BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1418
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Date of Hearing: April 23, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 1418 (Elections & Redistricting Committee) - As Introduced:
March 20, 2013
SUBJECT : The Political Reform Act of 1974: omnibus bill.
SUMMARY : Makes various minor and technical changes to the
Political Reform Act of 1974 (PRA). Specifically, this bill :
1)Repeals a requirement that campaign statements must be open
for public inspection and reproduction from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m. on the Saturday preceding a statewide primary or
statewide general election in the offices of the Secretary of
State (SOS), the Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles County, the
Registrar of Voters of San Diego County, and the Registrar of
Voters of the City and County of San Francisco.
2)Corrects an erroneous cross-reference in a provision of the
PRA that governs the civil service classification of staff
positions at the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
3)Makes technical changes to conform to the "top two" primary
election system and related legislation.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the FPPC, and makes it responsible for the impartial,
effective administration and implementation of the PRA.
2)Requires campaign statements to be open for public inspection
and reproduction from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday
preceding a statewide primary or statewide general election in
the offices of the SOS, Registrar-Recorder of Los Angeles
County, the Registrar of Voters of San Diego County, and the
Registrar of Voters of the City and County of San Francisco.
3)Requires specified committees to indicate on their statements
of organizations whether they support or oppose candidates or
measures and whether such candidates or measures have common
characteristics, such as a political party affiliation.
4)Requires a committee that is controlled by a candidate for
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partisan office to indicate on its statement of organization
the political party with which the candidate is affiliated.
5)Prohibits any non-clerical staff position at the FPPC from
being included in the same class in the civil service
classification plan with any position of any other department
or agency.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
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COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : This is one of the Assembly Elections &
Redistricting Committee's annual omnibus bills, containing
various minor and technical changes to the PRA.
2)Availability of Campaign Statements : When it was first
enacted, the PRA required statewide office holders, candidates
for statewide office, and certain other statewide campaign
committees to file a copy of all campaign reports with the
Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles and San Francisco
counties. To ensure that voters had access to these campaign
reports immediately before an election, the PRA subsequently
was amended to require the offices of the SOS and of the
Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles, San Diego, and San
Francisco counties to be open for public inspection and
reproduction of campaign statements from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m. on the Saturday preceding a statewide primary or
statewide general election.
Since that time, the Legislature has taken a number of steps to
make these campaign reports more publicly accessible,
including setting up an online campaign disclosure database,
requiring most candidates and committees active in campaigns
for state office to file campaign disclosure reports
electronically, and requiring the SOS to make other specified
reports available online even when those reports are not
required to be filed electronically.
Given the increased availability of campaign reports online, the
SOS and counties have reported that it is uncommon for the
public to come to their offices on the Saturday before a
statewide election to view or obtain copies of campaign
statements. In fact, the SOS indicates that no member of the
public has visited that office during these hours for the last
several election cycles.
In light of the increased availability of campaign reports
online, this bill repeals the requirement for the offices of
the SOS and of the Registrars of Voters in Los Angeles, San
Diego, and San Francisco counties to be open for public
inspection and reproduction of campaign statements on the
Saturday preceding a statewide primary or statewide general
election.
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3)"Top Two" Cleanup : In February 2009, the Legislature approved
SCA 4 (Maldonado), Res. Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009, which was
enacted by the voters as Proposition 14 on the June 2010
statewide primary election ballot. Proposition 14 implemented
a top two primary election system in California for most
elective state and federal offices. At the same time that it
passed SCA 4, the Legislature also approved and Governor
Schwarzenegger signed SB 6 (Maldonado), Chapter 1, Statutes of
2009, which made various changes to state statute that became
effective upon the approval of Proposition 14 by the voters.
Among other provisions, SB 6 provides that individuals who
select a political party when registering to vote are no
longer considered to be affiliating with that party, but
instead are declaring a preference for that political party.
One section of the PRA, however, still refers to candidates'
political affiliations, rather than their political
preferences.
This bill makes conforming changes to that section of the PRA to
reflect the changes that were made by SB 6.
4)Civil Service Classification : In 1985, the state's laws
governing the state civil service Personnel Classification
Plan were reorganized, and a number of code sections were
renumbered. However, a section of the PRA that
cross-references those laws was never updated.
This bill corrects that outdated cross-reference.
5)Political Reform Act of 1974 : California voters passed an
initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the FPPC and
codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on
candidates, officeholders, and lobbyists. That initiative is
commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA that are not
submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill,
must further the purposes of the initiative and require a
two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Opposition
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094