BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1419
          Author:   Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee
          Amended:  8/19/13 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND.COMMITTEE  :  4-0, 6/18/13
          AYES:  Hancock, Padilla, Yee, Torres
           
          SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8  

          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  70-0, 5/16/13 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote


           SUBJECT  :    Presidential general elections:  party  
          qualifications

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill establishes a process for a political body  
          to qualify as a political party for the purposes of having that  
          partys Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates appear on  
          the presidential general election ballot.

           Senate Floor Amendments  of 8/19/13 provide the definition for  
          electronic data file and add legislative intent.

           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law:

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           1. Provides that a political party is qualified to participate  
             in a primary election under specified conditions.

           2. Requires county elections officials to send a summary  
             statement of the number of voters in the county to the  
             Secretary of State (SOS) at specified times.

           3. Requires each political party to have its qualifications  
             reviewed by the SOS upon the occurrence of the gubernatorial  
             election and further provides that a party that does not meet  
             the standards for qualification, as described above, shall be  
             prohibited from participating in any primary election.  

           4. 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.

           5. 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.

           6. Requires the SOS, with the advice and consent of the  
             Attorney General, to determine which parties are disqualified  
             pursuant to these provisions.

          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 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 1% of the entire vote of the state at the last  
                preceding gubernatorial election have declared their  
                intention to affiliate with that party; or,

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             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% 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.

           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. Defines "electronic data file" as either a magnetic tape or a  
             data file in an alternative electronic format, at the  
             discretion of the county elections official.

          6. States that it is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting  
             this bill, to comply with the holding of the U.S. District  
             Court for the Central District of California in California  
             Justice Committee v. Bowen, by requiring county elections  
             officials to send to the SOS an additional summary statement  
             of the voters in the county in order to allow the SOS to  
             determine which political parties are qualified to  
             participate in each presidential general election.

           Background
           
          Existing law requires a political body to qualify as a political  

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          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 by January in order 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  
          the above deadline, alleging the early deadline violated their  
          1st and 14th Amendment rights.  The U.S. District Court agreed,  
          and enjoined the SOS from enforcing the requirement described  
          above. The Court refused, however, to impose an alternative  
          deadline.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  Yes

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/20/13)

          Secretary of State

           ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT  :   According to the author's office, 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.  This bill accomplishes that goal and  
          promotes the values of democracy, fairness, and ballot access in  
          an equitable way.

          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  

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          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.

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  70-0, 5/16/13
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,  
            Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian  
            Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,  
            Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia,  
            Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,  
            Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue,  
            Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin,  
            Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,  
            V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,  
            Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, 
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Allen, Buchanan, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Grove,  
            Holden, Melendez, Morrell, Stone, Vacancy

          RM:k  8/21/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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