BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2265| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 2265 Author: Mark Stone (D) and Dahle (R) Introduced:2/18/16 Vote: 21 SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/8/16 AYES: Allen, Anderson, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: County ballot measures: impartial analysis SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill authorizes the county counsel or district attorney to prepare a summary of the impartial analysis of a county ballot measure in a format that answers the questions "What does a yes vote mean?" and "What does a no vote mean?" ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1) Requires the county elections official, when a county measure qualifies for the ballot, to transmit a copy of the measure to the county auditor and to the county counsel or to the district attorney in a county that does not have a county counsel. 2) Provides that the county counsel or the district attorney shall prepare an impartial analysis of the measure showing the effect of the measure on the existing law and the AB 2265 Page 2 operation of the measure. a) Requires the analysis to include a statement indicating whether the measure was placed on the ballot by a petition signed by the requisite number of voters, or by the board of supervisors. b) Requires the analysis to be printed preceding the arguments for and against the measure. c) Provides that the analysis may not exceed 500 words in length. 3) Requires the elections official, if the entire text of a county ballot measure is not printed on the ballot, or in the voter information portion of the sample ballot, to inform voters of alternative ways to access the text of the measure. 4) Provides that not later than 88 days prior to an election that includes a county ballot measure, the board of supervisors may direct the county auditor to review the measure and determine whether the substance thereof, if adopted, would affect the revenues or expenditures of the county. Requires the auditor, if so directed, to prepare a fiscal impact statement which estimates the amount of any increase or decrease in revenues or costs to the county if the proposed measure is adopted and limits the fiscal impact statement to 500 words or less. This bill: 1) Authorizes the county counsel or district attorney to prepare a summary of the impartial analysis of a county ballot measure in a format that answers the questions "What does a yes vote mean?" and "What does a no vote mean?" 2) Provides that the summary for each question limited to 75 words or less. 3) Provides that any summary prepared pursuant to this provision may be included in the voter information portion of the sample ballot. 4) Makes clarifying changes. AB 2265 Page 3 Background Existing law requires the state voter information guide contain a section, located near the front of the pamphlet that provides a concise summary of the general meaning and effect of "yes" and "no" votes on each statewide ballot measure. For these state measures, summary statements are prepared solely by the Legislative Analyst and are not intended to provide comprehensive information on each measure. Comments 1) According to the author, California voters are often faced with local ballot initiatives that are intended to cover a range of local municipal issues. As voters are seeing these initiatives it is important that those voters are provided with clear, unbiased information about what they are voting on. AB 2265 makes it clear that county counsels are authorized to provide an analysis which answers the questions "What does a yes vote mean?" and "What does a no vote mean?" for the measure. This analysis could not be longer than seventy-five words for each question. Providing this information will not only ensure that voters have the correct information, but that they have it in the most useful and practical form. Related/Prior Legislation AB 809 (Obernolte, Chapter 337, Statutes of 2015), requires the ballot, if a proposed local initiative imposes a tax or raises the rate of a tax, to include in the statement of the ordinance to be voted on the amount of money to be raised annually and the rate of the tax to be levied. AB 354 (Dahle, Chapter 265, Statutes of 2013), requires the analysis of a local ballot measure that appears in the ballot AB 2265 Page 4 pamphlet to include a statement indicating whether the measure was placed on the ballot by a petition signed by the requisite number of voters or by the local governing body. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified6/9/16) California Association of Clerks and Election Officials Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association OPPOSITION: (Verified6/9/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 5/5/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NO VOTE RECORDED: Beth Gaines Prepared by:Frances Tibon Estoista / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106 6/14/16 16:52:09 **** END **** AB 2265 Page 5