BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 370
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
370 (Brown) - As Introduced February 17, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill specifies that a person is guilty of a misdemeanor if,
with the intent to mislead the voters, he or she assumes,
pretends, or implies by his or her campaign materials that he or
AB 370
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she is the incumbent of a public office, or has been acting in
the capacity of a public officer, when that is not the case.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Likely minor nonreimbursable costs to local governments for
enforcement, offset to some extent by fine revenues.
COMMENTS:
1)Background. Current law makes it a misdemeanor for a person to
knowingly try to mislead voters by his or her statements or
conduct by assuming, pretending, or implying that he or she is
an incumbent of a public office or has been acting in the
capacity of the public officer, when that is not the case.
2)Purpose. This bill expands current law to apply the above
prohibition to misrepresentations in a candidate's campaign
materials. According to author's office, this clarification is
needed because candidate misrepresentation is occurring and
most recently occurred in the author's district during the
November 2014 general election. The author's office provided
the policy committee with a picture of a campaign sign which
can be interpreted to be a false claim of incumbency by a
challenger.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 370
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