BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1148|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1148
Author: Beth Gaines (R)
Introduced:2/27/15
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/16/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Republican county central committees: Placer County
SOURCE: Placer County Republican Party
DIGEST: 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.
ANALYSIS:
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 and
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
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Page 2
districts, with six members elected from each district.
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.
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.
Background:
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.
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Page 3
Comments:
1) 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.
2) 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 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
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Page 4
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.
3) 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified6/25/15)
Placer County Republican Party (source)
AB 1148
Page 5
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/25/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/7/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Campos, Roger Hernández, Steinorth
Prepared by:Frances Tibon Estoista / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106
7/1/15 14:54:37
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