BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1148
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
AB 1148
(Beth Gaines) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Republican county central committees: Placer County.
SUMMARY: Requires Republican county central committee members
in Placer County to be elected by supervisorial district, and
provides for seven members to be elected from each district.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires, in each county containing fewer than five Assembly
districts, that county central committee members for the
Republican Party be elected by supervisorial district.
Provides that the number of members elected from each district
shall be determined pursuant to a specified formula.
2)Requires, in each county containing more than four and less
than 20 Assembly districts, that county central committee
members for the Republican Party be elected by Assembly
districts, with six members elected from each district.
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3)Requires, in each county containing more than 20 Assembly
districts, that county central committee members for the
Republican Party be elected by Assembly districts, with seven
members elected from each district that is wholly or partially
within the county. Provides that in an Assembly district that
lies only partially within the county, the seven members shall
be elected by the voters residing in the portion of the
district contained within the county.
4)Establishes special rules that govern the election of county
central committee members for the Republican Party from
Sacramento, San Bernardino, and Santa Clara counties and the
City and County of San Francisco, notwithstanding the
generally applicable procedures outlined above.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
AB 1148 is needed to update the Elections Code to
conform to the current method of electing members to
the Placer County Republican Central Committee. This
method was approved by the Placer County Registrar of
Voters and the Placer County Counsel in 2012. It was
utilized in the last Central Committee elections in
2012 and the members elected at that time are
currently serving their four-year terms. This bill
was unanimously endorsed by the current Central
Committee in 2015 and the concept was also approved
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unanimously by the former Central Committee in 2012.
Furthermore, this bill (and the current election
method that this bill would codify) conforms to the
explicit language of the Placer County Republican
Party Bylaws.
The formula in Elections Code Section 7400, as applied
to Placer County, would create unconstitutional
malapportionment that would violate Party Bylaws.
That formula would have awarded only two seats out of
twenty-one to District Five, the supervisorial
district that encompasses 83% of Placer County, even
though the number of registered Republican voters in
District Five is not very different from District Two,
which would have received six of the twenty-one seats.
There is no justification for such malapportionment,
especially when the Party Bylaws do not allow it and
the Central Committee is opposed to it.
Placer County has five supervisorial districts with
approximately equal populations, so the Placer County
Republican Central Committee would like to have the
same number of Committee members elected from each
district. Seven members per district is a convenient
number that ensures broad representation from
throughout Placer County. It also ensures that anyone
who would have been elected under the old rules will
also be elected under the new rules.
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2)Placer County Republican Central Committee: Because Placer
County contains fewer than five Assembly districts, existing
law requires Republican county central committee members to be
elected in the county by supervisorial district, with the
number of members to be elected from each district determined
by the number of votes received by the Republican candidate
for Governor (if any) in the last gubernatorial election.
Based on the election results from the November 2014
gubernatorial election, existing law would require four
Republican county central committee members to be elected from
the first supervisorial district, and five Republican county
central committee members to be elected from each of the other
supervisorial districts, for a total of 24 elected members of
the Placer County Republican Central Committee. This bill will
increase the total number of members to be elected to the
Placer County Republican Central Committee to 35, with seven
members being elected from each supervisorial district.
3)Internal Governance: In Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic
Central Committee (1989), 489 U.S. 214, the United States
Supreme Court examined the right of a state to impose laws
relating to the internal affairs of political parties. The
Court found that laws burdening the associational rights of
political parties and their members must serve a compelling
state interest. Therefore, because a state has a compelling
interest in preserving the integrity of its election process,
it may properly enact laws that interfere with a political
party's internal affairs when necessary to ensure that
elections are fair and honest. (For example, a state may
properly impose certain eligibility requirements for voters in
the general election, even though they limit the ability of
political parties to garner support and members, where such
requirements are necessary to ensure that elections are fair
and honest.) However, a state cannot justify regulating a
party's internal affairs without showing that such regulation
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is necessary to ensure an election that is orderly and fair.
In Eu, the Court reiterated that a political party's
determination of the structure which best allows it to pursue
its political goals is protected by the Federal Constitution
(Tashijian v. Republican Party of Connecticut (1986), 479 U.S.
208 at 224) and further held that freedom of association also
encompasses a political party's decisions about the identity
of, and the process for electing, its leaders. Thus, unless
the state can show that the particular internal party
structure would interfere with the integrity of the electoral
process or some other compelling state interest, the political
parties have a constitutional right to be free from state
regulations in the matter of their internal affairs.
In 2009, the California Court of Appeals for the Second
District, reaffirmed the Supreme Court's holding in Eu in the
case of Wilson v. San Luis Obispo County Democratic Central
Committee (2009) 175 Cal. App. 4th 489. The Wilson case dealt
with a situation where the San Luis Obispo County Democratic
Central Committee had adopted bylaws regarding the removal of
central committee members and the membership of the central
committee that were in conflict with provisions of the
Elections Code. The court in Wilson ruled in favor of the San
Luis Obispo County Democratic Central Committee, finding that
it had the right to adopt those conflicting bylaws pursuant to
Eu.
In light of the constitutionally protected rights of political
parties, the Legislature frequently has changed provisions of
the Elections Code at the request of political parties to
reflect those parties' desired methods of electing members to
party central committees (see "Previous Legislation" below).
4)Previous Legislation: AB 1200 (Ma), Chapter 8, Statutes of
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2012, changed the manner in which Republican county central
committee members are elected in the City and County of San
Francisco, and the manner in which Democratic county central
committee members are elected in Alameda and Sacramento
counties and the City and County of San Francisco, among other
provisions.
AB 1396 (Torres), Chapter 392, Statutes of 2009, repealed
various provisions of the Elections Code governing the
membership and operations of the state central committee of
the Democratic Party of California, and instead required that
the standing rules and bylaws of the Party govern the
membership and operations of the state central committee.
AB 965 (Anderson), Chapter 60, Statutes of 2007, provided that
the membership of the state central committee of the
California Republican Party shall be as set forth in the
standing rules and bylaws of the California Republican Party,
among other provisions.
AB 1054 (Bogh), Chapter 65, Statutes of 2005, required
Republican central committee members in San Bernardino County
to be elected by supervisorial districts as specified, instead
of by Assembly districts.
SB 1436 (Oller), Chapter 257, Statutes of 2002, required
Republican central committee members in Sacramento and Santa
Clara counties to be elected by supervisorial districts as
specified, instead of by Assembly districts.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Placer County Republican Party (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094