BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1419| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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: CONTINUED AB 1419 Page 2 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, CONTINUED AB 1419 Page 3 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 CONTINUED AB 1419 Page 4 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 CONTINUED AB 1419 Page 5 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 **** END **** CONTINUED