BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1492 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 1492 (Low) - As Amended April 30, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Rules |Vote:|10 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | |Elections and Redistricting | |7 - 0 | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill provides that a person found guilty of fraud, within the context of circulating or filing an in-lieu-filing fee petition or a political party qualification petition, is subject AB 1492 Page 2 to the same penalties as a person found guilty of other means of petition fraud. FISCAL EFFECT: Nonreimbursable costs to local governments for enforcement, offset to some extent by fine revenues. (Consistent with current law governing petition fraud, violations are generally punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000 and/or by imprisonment for 16 months, two or three years. It is expected that any convictions generally would not result in imprisonment.) COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, " Currently, the Secretary of State does the investigations into people who commit fraud involving nomination papers, declarations of candidacy, initiatives, referenda, and recall petitions and the only two petitions that are not specifically included in the statute are in-lieu filing fee petitions and political party petitions. By including the two additional petitions this would provide clarity by allowing the state to punish people whom commit fraud involving in-lieu filing fee petitions and political party petitions." 2)Background. Candidates for state and federal offices, when filing their declarations of candidacy with the SOS, are required to pay a filing fee, which varies based on the specific state or federal office. In lieu of paying the fee, candidates may submit a petition containing signatures of registered voters, with the number of required signature again depending on the specific office. AB 1492 Page 3 3)Prior Legislation. This bill is substantially similar to SB 1043 (Torres) of 2014, which was never brought up for a vote on the Assembly Floor. Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081