BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 519 HEARING DATE: 04/30/13
AUTHOR: EMMERSON ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 04/01/13
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Special elections
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires any vacancy in a state legislative or
congressional office to be filled by a special primary,
and, if needed a special run-off election.
From 1993 through 2007, the state has reimbursed counties
for the costs of special elections held to fill vacancies
in the Assembly, Senate and Congress. However, the
provision of state law that requires the state to reimburse
counties for the costs of special vacancy elections expired
January 1, 2008.
Existing law requires all expenses authorized and
necessarily incurred in the preparation for, and conduct
of, elections to be paid from the county treasuries, except
that when an election is called by the governing body of a
city the expenses shall be paid from the treasury of the
city.
This bill would provide that expenses authorized and
necessarily incurred on or after January 1, 2012, and
before December 31, 2013, for elections proclaimed by the
Governor to fill a vacancy in the office of Senator or
Member of the Assembly, or to fill a vacancy in the office
of United States Senator or Member of the United States
House of Representatives, shall be paid by the state.
BACKGROUND
A Little Special Election History . According to the
Secretary of State, in the last 20+ years, there have been
121 special primary and general elections to fill vacant
seats in the Assembly, Senate and Congress in California,
an average of 4.8 per year.
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, special
elections result in an average cost of about $1 million for
counties to conduct depending on the size of the county.
Costs are much lower if the vacancy election is
consolidated with another election. Most often these costs
are unbudgeted and unanticipated, even necessitating the
shifting of funds from other necessary programs to pay for
the mandated elections.
At the gates : The next round of special elections begins
May 14, 2013 with a general election to determine who will
represent SD 32. There are also two special primary
elections scheduled for SD 16 and AD 80 to be conducted May
21, 2013 to determine either outright winners for those
seats or whether special run-off elections will be
necessary in July. Depending on the outcomes of the SD 32
general and the May 21, 2013 Los Angeles City Council race
for district 9, another series of special elections could
be coming soon.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : In recent years, there have
been an increasing number of vacancies in Congress or
the legislature. Under existing law, counties are
responsible for the cost to fill these vacancies. The
cost of a special election to fill vacancies is mostly
unforeseen and if the special election cannot be
consolidated with an already scheduled election, even
more expensive.
Conducting a special election can cost millions of
dollars. As a result, the county has to redirect funds
that are needed to support critical services in the
community to cover the cost associated with conducting a
special election. Fiscal uncertainty is a reality for
government agencies and these unplanned and unfunded
elections are an immense burden on the budgeting
process.
SB 519 (EMMERSON)
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SB 519 would relieve counties of the responsibility of
paying for expenses incurred between January 1, 2012 and
December 31, 2013 for elections proclaimed by the
Governor to fill a vacancy in the office of State
Assembly, State Senate, U.S. Senate, or U.S. House of
Representatives by specifying that these expenses be
paid by the state.
2. Prior legislation : SB 106 (Blakeslee) of 2011, was
nearly identical to this bill. SB 106 was held in
Senate Appropriations Committee. SB 141 (Price) of 2011
and SB 994 (Price) of 2010 required all expenses
authorized and necessarily incurred in the preparation
and conduct of vacancy elections proclaimed by the
Governor be paid by the State. Both bills were held in
Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 496 (Davis) of 2010, mirrored language in SB 994
(Price), and was held in Senate Appropriations. AB 1769
(Tran) of 2010, also identical to this bill, was held in
Assembly Appropriations.
First implemented by AB 37 (Johnson), Chapter 39, Statutes
of 1993, the state has reimbursed counties for the costs
of special elections held to fill vacancies in the
Senate, Assembly, and Congress from 1993 through 2007.
Since 2008, there have been numerous, but unsuccessful,
legislative attempts to extend this reimbursement
provision.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: County of San Bernardino
Support: California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
County of San Diego
Fresno County Board of Supervisors
Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC)
Secretary of State
Siskiyou County
Urban Counties Caucus
Oppose: None received
SB 519 (EMMERSON)
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SB 519 (EMMERSON)
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