BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 254
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB
254 (Allen and Leno)
As Amended May 9, 2016
Majority vote. Urgency
SENATE VOTE: Vote not relevant
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |5-2 |Weber, Gordon, Low, |Harper, Travis |
| | |Mullin, Nazarian |Allen |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |14-6 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Obernolte, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, McCarty, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Places an advisory measure on the November 8, 2016,
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statewide general election ballot on amending the United States
Constitution to address campaign finance issues. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Calls a special election for November 8, 2016, to be
consolidated with the statewide general election, and requires
the following question to be placed on the ballot at that
election:
Shall California's elected officials use all of their
constitutional authority, including, but not limited
to, proposing and ratifying one or more amendments to
the United States Constitution, to overturn Citizens
United v. Federal Elections Commission (2010) 558 U.S.
310, and other applicable judicial precedents, to
allow the full regulation or limitation of campaign
contributions and spending, to ensure that all
citizens, regardless of wealth, may express their
views to one another, and to make clear that
corporations should not have the same constitutional
rights as human beings?
2)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to communicate the
results of the vote on the measure to Congress.
3)Waives various deadlines and other provisions of the Elections
Code so that this measure may appear on the ballot at the
November 8, 2016, election, in the event that this bill is
chaptered after the statutory deadline for a legislative
measure to appear on the ballot at that election. Provides
that if this bill is chaptered after the statutory deadline
for a legislative measure to appear on the ballot at the
November 8, 2016, election, it and any other legislative
measure placed on the ballot after the deadline shall be
placed on the ballot following all other ballot measures.
4)Requires the SOS to submit this measure to the voters at the
next occurring election if the SOS is prohibited by a court
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order from placing this measure on the ballot at the November
8, 2016, pending resolution of an unsuccessful legal challenge
to the validity of this bill.
5)Calls an election within the meaning of the California
Constitution Article IV, thereby allowing this bill to take
effect immediately upon enactment.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time General Fund printing cost of at least
$275,000, based on $55,000 per page, to include in the statewide
ballot pamphlet the text of the measure, title and summary,
Legislative Analyst's Office analysis, and arguments in support
and opposition.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "SB 254 would place a
measure on the November 2016 ballot asking voters whether
California's elected officials should use all of their
constitutional authority, including, but not limited to,
proposing and ratifying one or more amendments to the United
States Constitution, to overturn Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission and other applicable judicial precedents, to
allow the full regulation or limitation of campaign
contributions and spending, to ensure that all citizens,
regardless of wealth, may express their views to one another,
and to make clear that corporations should not have the
constitutional rights as human beings."
SB 1272 (Lieu), Chapter 175, Statutes of 2014, proposed to place
a question on the ballot at the November 2014 general election
that was similar to the question that this bill seeks to place
on the ballot at the November 2016 election. In August 2014,
however, the California Supreme Court ordered that Proposition
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49 be removed from the ballot while it considered the question
of whether the Legislature had the authority to place advisory
questions on the ballot. In January, the Supreme Court ruled in
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v. Padilla (2016) 62 Cal.
4th 486, that the Legislature had the authority to place
Proposition 49 on the ballot.
Although the Supreme Court's decision concluded that the
Legislature had the authority to place Proposition 49 on the
ballot, the decision also noted that SB 1272 expressly provided
for that question to be placed on the November 2014 ballot.
Since that election has already occurred, the Court decided that
the Legislature would need to pass another bill if it wanted the
advisory question to be considered by the voters at a different
election. Earlier this year, the Legislature filed a petition
for rehearing with the Supreme Court requesting that the Court
modify its opinion in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to
direct the SOS to place SB 1272's advisory question on the
November 2016 general election ballot without the need for the
Legislature to take further action, but the Supreme Court denied
that petition without comment.
Because this bill calls an election within the meaning of
Article IV of the Constitution, it would go into immediate
effect if chaptered. The statutory deadline to place a
legislative measure on the ballot for the November 8, 2016,
statewide election is June 30, 2016.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by:
Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0002862
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