BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1148 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 1148 (Beth Gaines) - As Introduced February 27, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Elections and Redistricting |Vote:|6 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: Yes SUMMARY: This bill 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. AB 1148 Page 2 FISCAL EFFECT: Negligible fiscal impact, as the bill is consistent with current practice in the County. COMMENTS: Purpose. 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 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. According to the Assembly Committee on Election and Redistricting analysis of the bill, "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." Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 1148 Page 3