BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 49 Hearing Date: 6/16/15
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|Author: |Runner |
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|Version: |5/20/15 |
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|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Darren Chesin |
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Subject: Elections: special elections
DIGEST
This bill provides that when only one candidate for a
legislative office qualifies to have his or her name printed on
the special primary election ballot to fill a legislative
vacancy, the Governor may cancel the election and declare that
candidate elected.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires the Governor to issue a proclamation calling a
special election within 14 calendar days of the occurrence of
a vacancy in a congressional or legislative office. If that
vacancy occurs after the close of the nomination period in the
final year of the term of office, the Governor may decline to
call a special congressional election and he is prohibited
from calling a special legislative election.
2)Requires a special election to fill a vacancy in the office of
Representative in Congress, State Senator, or Member of the
Assembly shall be conducted on a Tuesday at least 126 days,
but not more than 140 days, following the issuance of an
election proclamation by the Governor, except that any special
election may be conducted within 180 days following the
proclamation in order that the election or the primary
election may be consolidated with the next regularly scheduled
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statewide election or local election occurring wholly or
partially within the same territory in which the vacancy
exists, provided that the voters eligible to vote in the local
election comprise at least 50 percent of all the voters
eligible to vote on the vacancy.
3)Requires that a special primary election to fill a legislative
or congressional vacancy occur on the ninth or tenth Tuesday
prior to the special general election.
4)Requires that nomination papers for one of these special
vacancy elections must be submitted to the appropriate county
elections official no later than 53 days prior to the special
primary election.
5)Requires every person who desires to be a write-in candidate
and have his or her name as written on the ballot of an
election counted for a particular office to file with the
appropriate elections official a statement of write-in
candidacy no later than 14 days prior to the election.
6)Provides that if any candidate receives a majority of all
votes cast, he or she shall be declared elected, and no
special general election shall be held.
7)Provides that if only one person has filed nomination papers
for a municipal office the governing body of the city may
appoint that person to the office instead of holding the
election.
8)Provides that if only one person has filed nomination papers
for a district office the supervising authority of the
district may appoint that person to the office instead of
holding the election unless a petition signed by 10 percent of
the voters or 50 voters, whichever is the smaller number, in
the district or division if elected by division, requesting
that the general district election be held.
9)Provides that if only the incumbent has filed nomination
papers for the office of superior court judge , his or her name
will not appear on the ballot unless within 10 days after the
filing deadline a petition is filed indicating that a write-in
campaign will be conducted for the office which is signed by
one-tenth of one percent of the registered voters qualified to
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vote for that office, except that the petition must have no
fewer than 100 and does not need more than 600 signatures.
This bill:
1)Authorizes the Governor to declare a candidate for a
legislative office elected if only one candidate for the
legislative office qualifies to have his or her name printed
on the special primary election ballot, and would cancel the
special primary election and special general election if the
Governor declares such a candidate elected. This bill would
not affect congressional vacancies.
2)Requires the Governor to rescind the proclamation calling for
the special election if a special primary election is canceled
because a candidate has been declared elected in this manner.
3)Specifies that a candidate is declared elected by the
Governor, instead of the Secretary of State, for purposes of
the existing provisions described above.
4)Contains an urgency clause thereby providing that it would
take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
BACKGROUND
Recent Proliferation of Special Vacancy Elections . Since 2009
there have been a total of 39 special elections to fill
legislative vacancies in California, the majority of which were
not consolidated with statewide elections. Special vacancy
elections are generally unexpected; therefore, counties cannot
forecast the cost in their budgets. According to county
elections officials affected by special elections, costs
associated with conducting special elections result in an
average of $1 million, depending on the size of the county or
counties affected. Costs are much lower if the vacancy election
is consolidated with another election. The price tag of special
elections is more concerning when factored with the typical low
voter turnout associated with them.
State Funding of Vacancy Elections . From 1993 through 2007, the
state reimbursed California counties for the costs of special
elections held to fill legislative and congressional vacancies.
However, the provision of state law that required the state to
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reimburse counties for these costs expired January 1, 2008.
Since 2008, numerous bills to continue state reimbursement have
all failed passage in the Legislature.
Filling Legislative Vacancies in Other States . According to the
National Conference of State Legislatures, when a vacancy occurs
in the legislature, 23 states hold a special election to fill
the vacancy, 26 states fill vacancies by appointment and one
state allows party committees to choose to hold a special
primary election or to hold a party convention. There is
considerable variation among the states in terms of who makes
the appointment, and whether the appointee must be of the same
political party as the person vacating the seat.
Elected State Offices that the Governor May Fill by Appointment .
Existing law vests the Governor with specific appointing
authority. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the
Superintendent of Public Instruction, Lieutenant Governor,
Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, or Attorney General,
or on the State Board of Equalization, the Governor shall
nominate a person to fill the vacancy who shall take office upon
confirmation by a majority of the membership of the Senate and a
majority of the membership of the Assembly.
While this bill does not grant the Governor the ability to fill
legislative vacancies by appointment, it does permit the
Governor to declare a candidate for a legislative office elected
at a special primary election to fill a legislative vacancy if
only one candidate for the legislative office qualifies to have
his or her name printed on the special primary election ballot.
COMMENTS
1)According to the Author : Earlier this year a special election
was conducted to fill a vacancy in Senate District 21.
Senator Runner was the only candidate who qualified to appear
on the ballot. A similar circumstance prevailed during the
election of Assemblymember Carol Migden in 1996.
These single candidate special elections cost counties millions
of taxpayer dollars. Current law does not provide any
alternative to actually conducting the special election once
the Governor has set the date. Los Angeles County spent $1.4
million on the special election earlier this year while San
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Bernardino County spent $221,000.00
2)No Write-In Candidates Allowed . Under this bill, a special
election to fill a legislative vacancy could be canceled if
only one candidate files nomination papers by the deadline to
appear on the special primary ballot. This would effectively
preclude any potential write-in candidates from being able to
seek the office. As stated in the "Existing law" section,
above, such a precedent exists for some local offices although
a specified petition can force the election to proceed for
district and judicial elections.
3)Suggested Amendment . The references to "Governor" on page 2,
lines 6 and 10 should be deleted and replaced with the
existing reference to "Secretary of State" since those duties
are unaffected by the purpose of this bill.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
SCA 16 (Steinberg of 2014) required the Governor to fill a
vacancy in either house of the Legislature by appointment within
21 days of the date of the vacancy. The appointee, at the time
of the appointment and during the 12-month period immediately
preceding the appointment, must have shared the same political
party preference as the vacating Member had when he or she was
last elected to the Legislature. The measure would have allowed
the house to which the appointment is made to reject the
appointment, by a majority vote, within 21 days of the
appointment, in which case the Governor would be required to
make another appointment.
SCA 16 was approved by this committee and the Senate
Appropriations Committee but was subsequently re-referred to the
Rules Committee and never taken up on the Senate floor.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California State Association of Counties
Oppose: None received
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