BILL ANALYSIS �
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