BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2284
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Shirley Weber, Chair
AB 2284
(Patterson) - As Amended April 6, 2016
SUBJECT: Special elections to fill vacancies.
SUMMARY: Requires a Legislator who resigns before the
completion of his or her term to use surplus campaign funds to
pay for the resulting special election. Prohibits any surplus
campaign funds remaining after paying special election costs
from being used for any purpose other than repaying campaign
debts or making charitable donations. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a state Senator or Member of the Assembly who resigns
from office before the expiration of his or her term to
reimburse the county or counties that hold a special election
to fill the vacancy for the costs of that election, using his
or her surplus campaign funds.
a) Provides that these expenses shall be reimbursed by the
former officeholder to the extent that he or she has
surplus funds available to do so. Provides that if the
legislative district encompasses more than one county, the
surplus funds shall be prorated among the counties in
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proportion to the percentage of the district that each
county composes.
b) Provides that any surplus campaign funds held by the
former officeholder shall be used to reimburse the costs of
the special election and to pay outstanding campaign debts
or elected officer's expenses before being used for any
other purpose.
c) Provides that any funds remaining after payment for the
costs of the special election may be used only for the
purposes of settling outstanding debts or expenses, or for
making donations to bona fide charitable, educational,
civic, religious, or similar tax-exempt, nonprofit
organizations, where no substantial part of the proceeds
will have a material financial effect on the former
candidate or elected officer, any member of his or her
immediate family, or his or her campaign treasurer.
2)Provides that if a state Senator or Member of the Assembly
decides to resign from office before the expiration of his or
her term, campaign funds held by that candidate shall be used
only to pay outstanding campaign debts or reasonable expenses.
Establishes a rebuttable presumption that the former
officeholder decided to resign six months before he or she
vacated office, and provides that the presumption may be
rebutted by objective evidence, such as evidence indicating
that the officeholder initiated or responded to an offer of
employment on a particular date. Provides that if a former
officeholder used campaign funds for a purpose not permitted
by this provision, that officeholder shall be personally
liable for reimbursing the costs of the special election.
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3)Makes corresponding changes.
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EXISTING LAW:
1)Creates the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), and
makes it responsible for the impartial, effective
administration and implementation of the Political Reform Act
(PRA).
2)Provides that campaign funds under the control of a former
candidate or elected officer are considered "surplus campaign
funds" on the 90th day after the person leaves office, or on
the 90th day following the end of the postelection reporting
period following the defeat of the candidate, whichever occurs
last. Permits surplus campaign funds to be used only for the
following purposes:
a) The payment of outstanding campaign debts or elected
officer's expenses;
b) The repayment of contributions;
c) Donations to a bona fide charitable, educational, civic,
religious, or similar tax-exempt, nonprofit organization,
where no substantial part of the proceeds will have a
material financial effect on the former candidate or
elected officer, any member of his or her immediate family,
or his or her campaign treasurer;
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d) Contributions to a political party committee, provided
that the campaign funds are not used to support or oppose a
candidate for elective office. Contributions made pursuant
to this provision may be used by a political party
committee to conduct partisan voter registration, partisan
get-out-the-vote activities, and slate-mailers;
e) Contributions to support or oppose a candidate for
federal office, a candidate for elective office in a state
other than California, or a ballot measure; or,
f) The payment for professional services reasonably
required by the committee to assist in the performance of
its administrative functions, including payment for
attorney's fees and other costs for litigation that arises
directly out of a candidate's or elected officer's
activities, duties, or status as a candidate or elected
officer.
3)Requires the Governor to issue a proclamation calling a
special election within 14 calendar days of the occurrence of
a vacancy in a legislative office, unless that vacancy occurs
after the close of the nomination period in the final year of
the term of office.
4)Makes violations of the PRA subject to administrative, civil,
and criminal penalties.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
a crimes and infractions disclaimer.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
From roads to sheriff's deputies, county governments
provide a number of critical services that play an
important role in the well-being of California's
communities. Counties also face the challenges of
providing these services with the budgetary
constraints often faced by governments.
Since the passage of Proposition 140 (term limits) in
1990, there have been more than one hundred special
elections called by the Governor to fill such
vacancies, all of which impose financial hardships on
the affected counties. [A recent] special election in
Fresno County, for instance, is estimated to cost the
county between $530,000-575,000?. The estimated costs
of special elections held between January 1, 2008 and
November 2013 for Los Angeles County alone is $27.1
million.
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It is currently impossible to predict when a member of
the legislature decides to step down from the very
office he or she ran for, which results in a county
having to cut services from one area to fund the cost
of a special election. When voters choose a candidate
to represent them, they are placing their trust in a
representative who, fully aware of the term they are
running for, is supposed to represent the best
interests of their communities. Triggering a costly
special election hurts the very people a candidate was
elected to represent.
Giving surplus campaign cash to fellow elected
officials after resignation instead of reimbursing
taxpayers for this burden is wrong. This bill will end
that practice. Under the provisions of this bill, a
Legislator would NOT be personally liable
(private/personal money) for special election
expenses, UNLESS they violate this clause and spend
surplus funds inappropriately before meeting their
obligation to pay for the special election.
2)Resignations from the California Legislature: Since the
2001-2002 Legislative Session, there have been 32 instances in
which a member of the Legislature resigned from office before
the completion of his or her term. Of those 32 resignations,
28 resulted in a special election being held to fill the
resulting vacancy (in the other four cases, the resignation
happened close enough to the end of the member's term that a
special election was not held, and the seat was left vacant
for the remainder of the term instead). More than 84% of the
resignations were the result of members being elected to other
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public offices by the voters (25 cases) or being appointed by
the Governor to fill vacancies in other elective offices (two
cases). In the five cases where a member of the Legislature
resigned for a reason other than assuming another public
office, one resigned after a criminal conviction, one resigned
amid press reports about comments he made regarding an alleged
relationship with a lobbyist, and three resigned from office
and subsequently accepted governmental relations jobs with
private organizations.
3)Surplus Funds: Once campaign funds become "surplus funds"
under state law, they are subject to additional restrictions
on how the funds may be used. Most notably, surplus funds may
not be used by a candidate for a future election. If a member
of the Legislature resigns from office, any funds that member
holds in a campaign account for the term of office that he or
she is resigning will become surplus funds on the 90th day
following that member's resignation. For example, if a
sitting member of the Assembly had campaign funds remaining in
his or her account for the 2014 election, and that member
resigned from the Assembly on the day that this bill is
scheduled to be heard in this committee (April 13, 2016), any
funds remaining in that account on July 12, 2016 would become
surplus funds. If the member had campaign funds in another
account for a future election, either to the Assembly or to
another state or local office, those funds would not become
surplus funds until after the election for which the funds
were raised.
4)Restrictions on the Use of Surplus Funds After Paying for the
Special Election: To the extent that a former member of the
Legislature has surplus funds in excess of the amount required
to reimburse counties for the costs of a special election,
this bill requires any such funds to be used exclusively for
charitable contributions, or to pay any outstanding campaign
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debts or expenses. The former Legislator would be unable to
refund campaign contributions to contributors or to use
surplus funds to pay for professional services required by the
committee, including paying for costs associated with
preparing and filing required campaign disclosure reports.
Refunding campaign contributions and paying for administrative
services that are necessary to comply with state law are all
expenses that are directly related to the business of the
campaign committee. In light of that fact, the committee may
wish to consider whether prohibiting surplus funds from being
used to pay for those expenses is desirable.
5)Disincentive to Resignation? As detailed above, under current
law, one permissible use for surplus campaign funds is to pay
attorney's fees and other costs for litigation that arises
directly out of a candidate's or elective officer's
activities, duties, or status as a candidate or elected
officer. If this bill became law, a candidate would be unable
to use surplus campaign funds for that purpose. If a member
of the Legislature was facing criminal charges or other legal
trouble and was considering resigning in light of those legal
difficulties, could this bill actually create an incentive for
that member to remain in office, rather than resigning, in
order to ensure that the member can use campaign funds for his
or her legal defense?
6)Resignations that Don't Trigger Special Elections: As noted
above, when a vacancy occurs in the Legislature after the
close of the nomination period in the final year of the term
of office, no special election is held to fill that vacancy.
Instead, the seat remains vacant for the rest of the term.
Under the current election calendar, where primary elections
for the Legislature are held in June of even-numbered years,
the close of the nomination period typically falls between the
beginning and the middle of March. Under this bill, if a
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Legislator resigned and no special election was held to fill
the vacancy, the former Legislator obviously would not need to
use surplus campaign funds to pay for the costs of a special
election. Nonetheless, if the former Legislator had surplus
campaign funds, this bill would require those surplus funds to
be used only for paying outstanding debts and expenses, or
making charitable donations, as specified.
7)Resignations Triggered by Elections to Other Offices: In
order to prevent a Legislator who is planning to resign from
circumventing the requirement to pay for the resulting special
election, this bill establishes a rebuttable presumption that
a Legislator decided to resign six months before vacating
office. This presumption would protect against a Legislator
spending all his or her remaining campaign funds after
deciding to resign but before leaving office.
It is unclear, however, how this rebuttable presumption would
work in the situation where a member was a candidate for
another office. As noted above, a significant majority of
Legislative resignations over the last 15 years have resulted
from situations where Legislators were elected to other
offices. Would the fact that a member became a candidate for
another office be considered evidence that the member made the
decision to resign from the Legislature on the date he or she
filed candidacy documents? Or could a Legislator argue that
they did not decide to resign until the election results were
final, since that person presumably would not resign from the
Legislature unless they were successfully elected to the other
office?
8)Arguments in Support: In support of this bill, the Howard
Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA) writes:
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HJTA faults no legislator who desires to leave their
office prematurely in order to seek outside career
opportunities. But in the event that occurs, it
should come with consequences. Forcing the taxpayers
to pick up the cost for a special election so that
legislators can take a higher-paying job in the
private sector, or another elected local government
position, is unfair. Special elections are costly to
taxpayers with expenses as high as $1,000,000. That
cost can be reduced by requiring that the departing
legislator absorb all or some of it out of their
campaign accounts. In addition, giving leftover money
in a campaign account to charity ensures that the
departing legislator won't be able to give
contributions to other Members before the resignation
takes effect.
9)Related Legislation: ACA 9 (Gomez), which is awaiting
referral to a policy committee by the Assembly Rules
Committee, would require a legislator who resigns his or her
seat to pay back the salary and travel and living expenses he
or she received during the incomplete term of office, unless
the legislator vacated the seat for medical reasons, among
other provisions.
10)Political Reform Act of 1974: California voters passed an
initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the FPPC and
codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on
candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is
commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA that are not
submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill,
must further the purposes of the initiative and require a
two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Fresno City Councilmember Lee Brand
Fresno County Board of Supervisors
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Tulare County Taxpayers Association
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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