BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó






                           SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS 
                            AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
                           Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair


          BILL NO:  AB 1418               HEARING DATE: 6/18/13
          AUTHOR:   ASSEMBLY E&R COMM.    ANALYSIS BY:  Frances Tibon  
          Estoista
          AMENDED:  AS INTRODUCED
          FISCAL:   YES
          
                                        SUBJECT
           
          The Political Reform Act of 1974:  omnibus bill

                                      DESCRIPTION  
          
           Existing law  creates the Fair Political Practices Commission  
          (FPPC), and makes it responsible for the impartial, effective  
          administration and implementation of the Political Reform Act  
          (PRA).

           Existing law  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 Secretary of State (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.

           Existing law  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.

           Existing law  requires a committee that is controlled by a  
          candidate for partisan office to indicate on its statement of  
          organization the political party with which the candidate is  
          affiliated.

           Existing law  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.










           This bill  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 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.

           This bill  corrects an erroneous cross-reference in a provision  
          of the PRA that governs the civil service classification of  
          staff positions at the FPPC.
































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           This bill  makes technical changes to conform to the "top two"  
          primary election system and related legislation.

                                      BACKGROUND  
          
          This is one of the Assembly Elections & Redistricting  
          Committee's omnibus bills, containing various minor and  
          technical changes to the PRA.

                                       COMMENTS  
          
            1. According to the Assembly Elections and Redistricting  
             Committee  :  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 Secretary of State (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 1985, the state's laws governing the state civil service  
             Personnel Classification Plan were reorganized, and a number  
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             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.

            2. "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.

                                     PRIOR ACTION
           
          Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee:  7-0
          Assembly Appropriations Committee:           17-0
          Assembly Floor:                              75-0
                                           
                                      POSITIONS  

          Sponsor: Author

           Support: Secretary of State

           Oppose:  None received







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