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  








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          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  








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             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  








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          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  








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          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.