BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Kevin de León, Chair SB 1253 (Steinberg) - Initiative Reform Amended: April 9, 2014 Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1 Urgency: No Mandate: No Hearing Date: May 23, 2014 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED. Bill Summary: SB 1253 makes several changes to the initiative process including providing a 30 day public review process, extending the timeframe allowed for circulating a petition, allowing the withdrawal of a petition at any time before the measure qualifies for the ballot, and makes several other changes to the procedures and requirements for placing an initiative petition measure on the ballot. Fiscal Impact (as approved May 23, 2014) Annual costs of $114,326 to Attorney General's Office (General Fund) The Attorney General's Office indicates the need for 1 PY at Associate Governmental Program Analyst position to handle the additional workload related to monitoring the required public comment section and associated duties. The Secretary of State has indicated that amending the initiative qualification process will have minor cost implications for providing notice to the Legislature and providing a certification of all voter initiated measures that qualify for the ballot. Existing law requires the SOS upon the completion of VoteCal to establish a process to allow voters to opt-out of receiving the Voter Information Guide (VIG). This bill would require that, when opting out, the voter would have the option to receive the VIG "in an electronic format." If this is interpreted to mean the SOS will be required to email the VIG to voters electing this option, numerous changes to VoteCal and county election management systems would be required. A website function would need to be developed for voters to choose a VIG delivery option SB 1253 (Steinberg) Page 1 of paper, email, or no delivery. Both VoteCal and the county election management systems (EMS) would need to be modified to capture email addresses and store VIG delivery options. Other system changes include the voter registration interface between VoteCal and the EMS, functions for elections officials to extract email addresses, record in the voter record system activity, and more. The costs to modify VoteCal and county EMS systems to send the VIG electronically to those opting out are estimated to be $500,000. To the degree that voters elected to either not receive the VIG or to receive it in electronic format, there would be unknown, but significant, printing and postage cost savings. Additionally, the Secretary of State indicates the need for 2 PY's with a first year cost of $215,000 and $205,000 ongoing relating to the provision requiring the online posting of consolidated ballot measure summaries and the top ten donors. Background: Existing law establishes specific procedures and requirements for placing an initiative petition measure on the ballot as follows: Proponents of a proposed statewide initiative measure are required to submit a draft of the measure to the Attorney General (AG) with a request for a ballot title and summary to be prepared, prior to circulating the petition for signatures. The request must include a payment of $200 which is refunded to the proponent if the measure ultimately qualifies for the ballot. Upon receipt of the fee and request, the AG must, within 15 days of receipt of the final version of the measure, prepare a title and a summary for submission to the Secretary of State. If, within the 15 day period, the proponents of the proposed initiative submit amendments, the AG must provide, to the SOS, a revised title and summary of the amended final version of the measure. If however, the measure requires a fiscal analysis, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, must prepare a fiscal analysis within 25 working days of receipt of the final version of the measure. Within SB 1253 (Steinberg) Page 2 15 days following receipt of the fiscal estimate of the measure, the AG prepares the title and summary of the Initiative including any fiscal impact and submits it to the SOS. Only after the title and summary has been submitted to the SOS may the proponents begin to circulate the initiative petitions for signatures. The SOS is required to transmit copies of an initiative measure and its circulating title and summary to the Senate and the Assembly after the measure is certified to appear on the ballot for consideration by the voters. Each house of the Legislature then assigns the initiative measure to its appropriate committees which hold joint public hearings on the subject of the proposed measure prior to the date of the election at which the measure is to be voted upon, as specified. Proposed Law: Specifically, SB 1253 does the following: 1) Contains Findings and Declarations that California voters need more useful information in order to make informed decisions about an initiative measure, including a voter-friendly explanation of each initiative; that initiative measures should be able to be corrected before signature gathering begins; and, that proponents of an initiative measure should be able to withdraw a measure before it qualifies for the ballot. 2) Requires every initiative petition to contain a statement informing voters that the proponents have the right to withdraw the petition at any time before the measure qualifies for the ballot. 3) Revises the length of the ballot title and summary, and of the circulating title and summary, to be between 25 and 150 words, rather than the current maximum of 100 words. 4) Requires the Attorney General to initiate a 30 day public review process after a proponent has submitted a measure for circulating title and summary. The public review process will include: 1) posting the measure on the AG's Internet Web site, and 2) promoting public participating by inviting written public comments which may include suggested amendments to the SB 1253 (Steinberg) Page 3 initiative. Any written comments will be transmitted to the proponents of the initiative measure. 5) Requires the fiscal estimate to be prepared jointly by the Department of Finance and the Legislative Analyst, and provides 45 days for the estimate to be completed (up from the current 25 day deadline). 6) Extends the time for signature gathering from 150 days to 180 days from the official summary date. 7) Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to issue a certificate identifying each initiative measure which has been issued a notice of qualification on the 131st day before an election, as specified. 8) Require proponents to submit a certification, signed under penalty of perjury, to the Secretary of State immediately upon the collection of 25 percent of the number of signatures needed to qualify the initiative measure for the ballot. 9) Provides a timeframe for the Senate and Assembly Committees to hold a hearing on the subject of each initiative measure of not later than 131 days before the date of the election. 10) Requires the AG to prepare the ballot title and summary in clear and concise terms; to indicate the type and amount of a tax or fee if proposed; note whether the measure repeals existing law and if the measure is contingent upon the passage of another. 11) Requires the Legislature to provide the Attorney General with sufficient funding for administrative and other support relating to the preparation of the ballot title and summary for initiative measures. SB 1253 requires the Secretary of State to create an Internet Web site, or use other available technology, to consolidate information about each ballot measure including the top donors, as specified, in a manner that is easy for voters to access and understand, as specified. The bill also requires the SOS to enable a voter to receive the state ballot pamphlet in an electronic format upon the implementation of a statewide voter SB 1253 (Steinberg) Page 4 registration database. Finally, SB 1253 will allow proponents to withdraw a measure after filing the petition with the appropriate elections official at any time before the measure qualifies for the ballot. Proponents will be prohibited from accepting any money or other consideration to obtain the withdrawal of a measure from the ballot. Staff Comments: SB 1253 extends the time allowed to gather signatures and establishes a prequalification process. The prequalification process includes the ability to amend an initiative before it appears on the ballot as long as the changes are consistent with the original intent. The prequalification process also engages the Legislature earlier in the process. Staff notes that SB 1253 extends the permissive text length of the title and summary for a measure from 100 to 150 words. Current statute provides that the ballot title and summary cannot exceed 1/3 of a page in the Voter Information Guide. Consequently this could result in the Secretary of State having to use a smaller type size to avoid this conflict. Author's Amendments: Delete the requirement that the SOS provide the VIG in an electronic format, and instead requires the SOS to establish a process to enable a voter to receive an electronic notification providing a means to access the pamphlet in electronic format. The amendments also delete the requirement that the SOS provide a list of the top 10 contributors of $50,000 or more on ballot measures, and instead requires SOS to provide a list of each committee primarily formed to support or oppose the ballot measure and a means to access the sources of funding reported for each committee.