BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 967 (Vidak) - Special elections
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|Version: February 8, 2016 |Policy Vote: E. & C.A. 5 - 0 |
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|Urgency: Yes |Mandate: No |
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|Hearing Date: April 18, 2016 |Consultant: Robert Ingenito |
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This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 967 would require the State to reimburse
counties for the costs of special elections proclaimed by the
Governor to fill a vacancy in the office of State Senator,
member of the State Assembly, United States Senator, or Member
of the United States House of Representatives. The bill would
require reimbursement for those elections held between January
1, 2008 and December 31, 2016.
Fiscal Impact:
Approximately $23 million to $46 million in reimbursement
costs to counties (General Fund, see Staff Comments)
Background: Current law requires all expenses authorized and
necessarily incurred in the preparation for, and conduct of,
SB 967 (Vidak) Page 1 of
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elections to be paid from county treasuries, except that when an
election is called by the governing body of a city the expenses
are paid from the city treasury.
First implemented by AB 37 (Johnson, Chapter 39, Statutes of
1993), the State has reimbursed counties for the costs of
special elections held to fill vacancies in the Senate,
Assembly, and Congress from 1993 through 2007. Since 2008, there
have been numerous legislative attempts to extend this
reimbursement provision, none of which have been successful.
Proposed Law: This bill provides that all expenses authorized
and necessarily incurred on or after January 1, 2008 and before
December 31, 2016 in the preparation for, and conduct of,
elections proclaimed by the Governor to fill a vacancy in the
office of Senator or Member of the Assembly, or to fill a
vacancy in the office of U. S. Senator or Member of the U. S.
House of Representatives, shall be paid by the State.
Related Legislation: This bill is similar to SB 519 (Emmerson)
of 2013, SB 106 (Blakeslee) 2011, SB 141 (Price) of 2011, SB 994
(Price) of 2010, AB 496 (Davis) of 2010 - all of which were held
on this committee's Suspense File. AB 1769 (Tran) was held in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee in 2010.
Staff Comments: In the last two decades and since the
implementation of legislative term limits, there have been over
120 special primary and general elections to fill vacant seats
in the Assembly, Senate and Congress.
The Secretary of State's Office indicates that since 2008 there
have been 46 special elections conducted to fill vacancies in
the State Senate, Assembly and Congress. Special elections can
result in costs of approximately $500,000 to $1 million for
counties to conduct depending on the size of the county. Costs
are much lower if the vacancy election is consolidated with
another election, and can be higher if an election spans more
than one county. Most often these costs are unbudgeted and
unanticipated, even necessitating the shifting of funds from
other critical programs to pay for the mandated elections.
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