BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 49|
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VETO
Bill No: SB 49
Author: Runner (R)
Amended: 6/23/15
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/16/15
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR: 38-0, 7/9/15
AYES: Allen, Bates, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, De León,
Fuller, Gaines, Glazer, Hall, Hancock, Hernandez, Hertzberg,
Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva, Liu, McGuire,
Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen,
Nielsen, Pan, Pavley, Roth, Runner, Stone, Vidak, Wieckowski,
Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Galgiani
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 70-4, 6/27/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Elections: special elections
SOURCE: Author
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 that candidate
will be declared elected.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
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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
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.
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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
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)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 that candidate will be
declared elected.
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)Contains an urgency clause thereby providing that it takes
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
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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
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
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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
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified7/8/15)
California State Association of Counties
Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
San Bernardino County
OPPOSITION: (Verified7/8/15)
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None received
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE:
To the Members of the California State Senate:
I am returning Senate Bill 49 without my signature.
When only one candidate qualifies for a special primary
election ballot to fill a legislative vacancy, this bill
permits a Governor to cancel the election and declare the
candidate elected.
In the situation envisioned by this bill, potential
write-in candidates would be excluded from participating in
the election. This doesn't seem consistent with democratic
principles that call for choice and robust debate.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 70-4, 6/27/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Arambula, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau,
Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly,
Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Grove,
Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein,
Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood
NOES: Travis Allen, Gordon, Levine, Ting
NO VOTE RECORDED: Atkins, Brough, Gray, Medina, Thurmond,
Rendon
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Prepared by: Darren Chesin / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106
7/29/16 10:51:49
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