BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1419
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          Date of Hearing:   April 23, 2013

                  ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
                                  Paul Fong, Chair
           AB 1419 (Elections & Redistricting Committee) - As Introduced:   
                                   March 20, 2013
           
                              AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED  
           
          SUBJECT  :  Presidential general elections: party qualifications.

           SUMMARY  :   Establishes a process for a political body to qualify  
          as a political party for the purposes of having that party's  
          Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates appear on the  
          presidential general election ballot.  Specifically,  this bill  :   


          1)Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in  
            a presidential general election if either of the following  
            conditions is met:

             a)   If, on or before the 102nd day before a presidential  
               general election, it appears to the Secretary of State  
               (SOS), as a result of examining and totaling the statement  
               of voters and their political affiliations transmitted to  
               the SOS by county elections officials, that voters equal in  
               number to at least one percent of the entire vote of the  
               state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have  
               declared their intention to affiliate with that party; or,

             b)   If, on or before the 135th day before a presidential  
               general election, there is filed with the SOS a petition  
               signed by voters equal in number to 10 percent of the  
               entire vote of the state at the last preceding  
               gubernatorial election, declaring that they represent a  
               proposed party, the name of which shall be stated in the  
               petition, which proposed party those voters desire to have  
               participate in the presidential general election.

          2)Requires county elections officials to send a summary  
            statement of the number of voters in the county to the SOS not  
            less than 102 days prior to each presidential general election  
            with respect to voters registered before the 123rd day before  
            the presidential general election.








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          3)Requires a group of electors that are attempting to qualify a  
            new political party to indicate on a specified notice to the  
            SOS whether those electors intend to qualify the party for the  
            next primary election or the next presidential general  
            election.

          4)Provides that a political party that qualifies pursuant to the  
            above procedure to participate in a presidential general  
            election does not have the ability to use the general election  
            ballot for the purpose of electing state party or county  
            central committee officers.

          5)Makes conforming and corresponding changes.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Provides that a political party is qualified to participate in  
            a primary election under any of the following conditions:

             a)   If, at the last preceding gubernatorial election, there  
               was polled for any one of its candidates for any office  
               voted on through the state, at least two percent of the  
               entire vote of the state;

             b)   If, on or before the 135th day before any primary  
               election, it appears to the SOS, as a result of examining  
               and totaling the statement of voters and their political  
               affiliations transmitted to the SOS by county elections  
               officials, that voters equal in number to at least one  
               percent of the entire vote of the state at the last  
               preceding gubernatorial election have declared their  
               intention to affiliate with that party; or,

             c)   If, on or before the 135th day before any primary  
               election, there is filed with the SOS a petition signed by  
               voters equal in number to 10 percent of the entire vote of  
               the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election,  
               declaring that they represent a proposed party, the name of  
               which shall be stated in the petition, which proposed party  
               those voters desire to have participate in that primary  
               election.

          2)Requires county elections officials to send a summary  
            statement of the number of voters in the county to the SOS at  
            the following times:







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             a)   On the 135th day before each presidential primary and  
               before each direct primary, with respect to voters  
               registered on the 154th day before the primary election;

             b)   Not less than 50 days prior to the primary election,  
               with respect to voters registered on the 60th day before  
               the primary election;

             c)   Not less than 7 days prior to the primary election, with  
               respect to voters registered before the 14th day prior to  
               the primary election;

             d)   Not less than 50 days prior to the general election,  
               with respect to voters registered on the 60th day before  
               the general election;

             e)   Not less than 7 days prior to the general election, with  
               respect to voters registered before the 14th day prior to  
               the general election; and,

             f)   On or before March 1 of each odd-numbered year, with  
               respect to voters registered as of February 10.

          3)Requires each political party to have its qualifications  
            reviewed by the SOS upon the occurrence of the gubernatorial  
            election.  Provides that a party that does not meet the  
            standards for qualification, as described above, shall be  
            prohibited from participating in any primary election.   
            Requires a party that loses qualification, but seeks to regain  
            that qualification, to file a notice with the SOS indicating  
            that it intends to regain qualification.

          4)Provides that no party shall be recognized or qualified to  
            participate in any primary election if the party either  
            directly or indirectly carries on, advocates, teaches,  
            justifies, aids, or abets the overthrow by any unlawful means  
            of, or directly or indirectly carries on, advocates, teaches,  
            justifies, aides, or abets a program of sabotage, force and  
            violence, sedition or treason against, the government of the  
            United States or of California.  Requires the SOS, with the  
            advice and consent of the Attorney General, to determine which  
            parties are disqualified pursuant to these provisions.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown.  State-mandated local program; contains  







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          reimbursement direction.

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Proposed Amendments  :  In order to correct a technical error in  
            this bill, committee staff recommends the following amendment:

          On page 6, line 23, strike out "party" and insert:

          body

          Additionally, the SOS, which is the source of this bill,  
            indicates that in light of the amount of time needed to  
            process petitions for a political body that is attempting to  
            become a qualified political party, it is necessary to move  
            back the deadline for those petitions to be submitted pursuant  
            to this bill so that the determination of whether the petition  
            was successful can be made sufficiently in advance of the  
            election.  In order to address this concern, the SOS has  
            suggested the following amendment:

          On page 7, line 11, strike out "102nd" and insert;

          135th

          This committee analysis reflects these proposed amendments.  
           
           2)Purpose of the Bill :  Existing law requires a political body  
            to qualify as a political party 135 days before the  primary   
            election if it wishes to place candidates on the ballot, even  
            if the party only wants to participate in the  presidential  
            general  election.  Because California currently holds its  
            primary elections in June, this policy effectively requires a  
            political body to meet the qualification threshold to become a  
            recognized political party by January in order for that party  
            to have its Presidential candidate appear on the general  
            election ballot.

          Last year, two political bodies that were attempting to qualify  
            as political parties filed a lawsuit against the SOS  
            challenging this deadline for qualifying to place their  
            candidates on the presidential general election ballot.  In  
            the lawsuit (  California Justice Committee v. Bowen  (2012) Case  
            No. CV 12-3956 PA), the political bodies alleged that the  
            early deadline violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment  







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            rights.  The US District Court agreed, and enjoined the SOS  
            from enforcing the requirement that a political party had to  
            qualify by 135 days before the  primary  election in order to  
            qualify to appear on the November  presidential general   
            election.  At the same time, the Court refused to impose an  
            alternative deadline.

          This bill establishes a new deadline for political bodies that  
            are seeking to become qualified political parties for the  
            purposes of having a candidate appear on the presidential  
            general election ballot.  Under the provisions of this bill,  
            the deadline for a political party to qualify to have its  
            candidate appear on the presidential general election ballot  
            would be 102 days before the general election if the party is  
            qualifying based on the number of voters who registered with  
            that political party, or 135 days before the presidential  
            general election if the party is qualifying based on  
            signatures contained on a petition.  These deadlines were  
            established because they fall sufficiently in advance of  
            deadlines for printing the voter information guide and ballots  
            to allow elections officials to prepare those materials  
            accordingly.

          This bill was introduced at the request of Secretary of State  
            Debra Bowen.

           3)Arguments in Support  :  In support of this bill, Secretary of  
            State Debra Bowen writes:

               Recent court action holds that requiring political  
               bodies seeking to become political parties to qualify  
               prior to the presidential primary election even if  
               they have no intention of taking part in that  
               election, is not appropriate.  Instead, a court  
               determined that a separate process must be established  
               to allow political bodies that only want to take part  
               in the presidential general election to qualify as  
               political parties closer to the November election.

               AB 1419 accomplishes that goal and promotes the values  
               of democracy, fairness, and ballot access in an  
               equitable way.

           4)State Mandates  :  The 2011-12 and 2012-13 state budgets  
            included the suspension of various state mandates as a  







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            mechanism for cost savings.  Included on the list of  
            suspensions were all six existing elections-related mandates.   
            All the existing elections-related mandates have been proposed  
            for suspension again by the Governor in his budget for the  
            2013-14 fiscal year.  

          This bill would establish a new state-mandated local program by  
            requiring county elections official to prepare one additional  
            summary statement of the number of voters in the county in  
            each four-year period.  This summary statement is necessary in  
            order for the SOS to determine which political parties are  
            qualified to have their Presidential and Vice Presidential  
            candidates appear on the presidential general election ballot.  
             Given the fact that a federal court has already enjoined the  
            SOS from enforcing the existing deadline for a political party  
            to qualify in order to have its candidates for President and  
            Vice President appear on the presidential general election  
            ballot, it may be fiscally prudent to avoid further litigation  
            by modifying that deadline, notwithstanding the potentially  
            reimbursable state-mandated costs.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Secretary of State Debra Bowen

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094