BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1094|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1094
Author: Hernandez (D), et al.
Amended: 8/19/16
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-1, 4/19/16
AYES: Allen, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 5/27/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SENATE FLOOR: 25-14, 6/1/16
AYES: Allen, Beall, Block, De León, Glazer, Hall, Hancock,
Hernandez, Hertzberg, Hill, Hueso, Jackson, Lara, Leno, Leyva,
Liu, McGuire, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Pavley, Roth,
Wieckowski, Wolk
NOES: Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines,
Galgiani, Huff, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Stone,
Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-28, 8/24/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Initiatives: petition circulators
SOURCE: California Labor Federation
California Professional Firefighters
DIGEST: This bill makes numerous significant changes to
provisions of state law governing initiatives.
SB 1094
Page 2
Assembly Amendments (1) drop the threshold from 10% to 5% for
the required number of signatures collected to qualify a
proposed state initiative measure for the ballot to be collected
by individuals who do not receive money or other valuable
consideration exclusively or primarily for the specific purpose
of soliciting signatures of electors on the petition, as
specified ("5% requirement"); (2) require a petition for a
proposed state initiative measure circulated by a person such
that it will qualify toward meeting the 5% requirement include a
disclosure statement encouraging voters to read the contents
before signing, as specified; and (3) add a coauthor.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Allows electors to propose statutes and amendments to the
Constitution and to adopt or reject them through the
initiative process.
2) Requires every state or local initiative petition contain a
notice alerting voters that the petition may be circulated by
a paid signature gatherer or a volunteer and that voters have
the right to ask if a petition circulator is paid or is a
volunteer.
3) Provides instruction on how to file petitions and provides
elections officials with instructions for the examination of
signatures, as well as procedures for the certification and
full check of petition signatures.
4) Establishes penalties for fraudulent activity related to
signature gathering.
SB 1094
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This bill:
1) Requires at least 5% of the signatures necessary to qualify
an initiative measure be solicited by a person who does not
receive money or other valuable consideration exclusively or
primarily for the specific purpose of soliciting signatures
of electors on the petition, as specified.
2) Provides that a person who is an employee or member of a
nonprofit organization, other than an organization with the
primary purpose of soliciting signatures on initiative
petitions, who receives money or other valuable consideration
from the organization and as part of that employment or
membership solicits signatures for the qualification of an
initiative measure shall be deemed to be a person who, for
purposes of satisfying the 5% requirement, does not receive
money or other valuable consideration for the specific
purpose of soliciting signatures of electors, unless the
primary purpose of that employment or membership is to
solicit signatures on an initiative petition.
3) Defines "member" for this purpose to mean any of the
following:
a) A person who, pursuant to a specific provision of an
organization's articles of incorporation or bylaws, has
the right to vote directly or indirectly for the election
of a director or directors, or an officer or officers, or
on a disposition of all or substantially all of the assets
of the organization, or on a merger or a dissolution.
b) A person who is designated in an organization's
articles of incorporation or bylaws as a member and,
pursuant to a specific provision of the articles of
incorporation or bylaws, has the right to vote on changes
to the articles of incorporation or bylaws.
SB 1094
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c) A person who pays or has paid membership dues in an
amount predetermined by the organization, provided the
organization is tax exempt under Section 501(c) of the
Internal Revenue Code.
d) A member of a union. Defined as a member of any
national or international union of which the local union
is a part and of any federation with which the local,
national, or international union is affiliated.
e) For these purposes, a person is not a member of a
nonprofit organization solely by virtue of being on a
mailing or contact list of the organization.
4) Requires for this purpose, that when determining whether an
organization, or a member or employee of an organization, has
the primary purpose of soliciting signatures on an initiative
petition, the totality of the circumstances, as defined,
shall be considered.
5) Provides that signatures solicited by registered voters of,
or employees of a political party or political party
committee, who receive money or other valuable consideration
from the political party or political party committee for
soliciting signatures on an initiative petition do not count
toward satisfying the 5% requirement.
6) Provides that signatures solicited through direct mail do
not count towards the number of signatures needed to satisfy
the 5% requirement if the person soliciting the signatures
through direct mail, or any other person who organizes, pays
for, or arranges for the direct mail, receives money or other
valuable consideration primarily for the purpose of
soliciting signatures of electors, unless the person is an
employee or member of a nonprofit organization as described
above.
7) Provides that this provision not preclude an organization
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that has a primary purpose other than soliciting signatures
on initiative petitions from soliciting signatures from the
organization's members through direct mail and relying on
those signatures for purposes of satisfying the 5%
requirement.
8) Provides that a petition that contains a "volunteer's"
declaration shall be prima facie evidence that the signatures
thereon satisfy the 5% requirement.
9) Provides that nominal benefits other than money, such as
food, transportation or lodging, do not preclude that
individual from soliciting signatures toward the 5%
requirement.
10)Provides for purposes of verifying signatures under existing
law and the procedures set forth by the Secretary of State
(SOS), if the signature of a qualified voter appears once on
a petition or section of a petition submitted to satisfy the
5% requirement, and the same voter's signature appears on a
petition or section of a petition that does not, the
qualified voter's signature shall only be counted once and
shall be counted towards satisfying the 5% requirement.
11)Requires the circulating title prepared by the Attorney
General (AG) be in 18-point roman boldface type, and placed
in the one-inch space across the top of the first page on
each section of the petition.
12)Requires a petition for a proposed initiative measure that
is circulated by a volunteer, be printed on white paper in a
contrasting color ink, and requires a petition for a proposed
initiative measure that is circulated by a paid circulator be
printed on paper of a color other than white in a contrasting
color ink.
SB 1094
Page 6
13)Requires a petition for a proposed initiative measure that
is circulated by a paid circulator, to include the following
statement immediately prior to the portion of the petition
for voters' signatures, printed names, and residence
addresses, printed in 12-point boldface type:
"NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC: THIS PETITION IS BEING CIRCULATED BY
A PERSON PAID TO OBTAIN YOUR SIGNATURE. YOU ARE ENCOURAGED
TO READ THE CONTENTS OF THIS PETITION BEFORE SIGNING."
14)Requires a petition for a proposed state initiative measure
that is circulated by a person such that it will qualify
toward meeting the 5% requirement to be printed on white
paper in a contrasting color ink and to include the following
notice printed in 12-point boldface type immediately prior to
the portion of the petition for voters' signatures:
"NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC: THIS PETITION IS BEING CIRCULATED BY
A VOLUNTEER OR AN EMPLOYEE OF A NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION. YOU
ARE ENCOURAGED TO READ THE CONTENTS OF THIS PETITION BEFORE
SIGNING."
15)Provides in addition to the information required in the
existing declaration of a circulator, a volunteer circulator
must declare all of the following:
a) The person does not receive money or other valuable
consideration for soliciting signatures of electors.
b) To the best of his or her knowledge, the signatures on
the petition sections circulated by him or her should be
counted towards the 5% requirement.
SB 1094
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16)Provides that an initiative petition section is invalid if
the signatures are solicited and submitted by a person who
intentionally engages in fraud, misrepresentation, or any
other improper signature-gathering behavior, or by a person
who falsely claims to have not received money or other
valuable consideration for the specific purpose of soliciting
signatures of electors as defined.
17)Allows the SOS, the AG, a district attorney, a city attorney
of a city with a population greater than 750,000, or any
elector to enforce this provision by a civil action in which
the plaintiff has the burden of showing a violation by clear
and convincing evidence. The signatures on a petition
section shall be invalidated only upon a showing, by clear
and convincing evidence, that the person who solicited or
obtained the signatures did so through intentional fraud,
misrepresentation, or other illegal conduct, or that the
person falsely claimed to have not received money or other
valuable consideration for the specific purpose of soliciting
signatures of electors. Any civil action brought pursuant to
a violation shall have priority over all other civil matters.
18)Prohibits a petition section from being invalidated after
the SOS has certified that the measure has qualified for the
ballot.
19)Requires that if an elections official is notified of or
discovers any illegal conduct of a person circulating a
petition, he or she must notify the SOS immediately but does
not permit the local elections official to refuse to examine
or to stop the examination of the petition or petition
sections.
20)Makes multiple corresponding changes to the process for
elections officials to verify signatures submitted on a state
initiative petition.
SB 1094
Page 8
21)Provides local election officials with two additional days
beyond the current eight day requirement to determine the
total number of signatures affixed to a petition, and in the
case of an initiative petition, the total number of
signatures submitted to satisfy the 5% requirement. Also
provides election officials with an additional five days
beyond the current 30 day requirement to determine that a
petition has received a sufficient number of qualified
voter's signatures and signatures that satisfy the 5%
requirement.
22)Requires the SOS to adopt emergency regulations pursuant to
the provisions of this bill.
23)Makes various findings and declarations about the initiative
process and the influence that special interests and paid
circulators have on that process.
24)Provides that the provisions of this bill do not apply to an
initiative petition for which the AG issued a circulating
title and summary before January 1, 2017.
25)Provides that specified provisions of the bill become
operative only if the SOS certifies that the state has a
statewide voter registration database that complies with the
requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52
U.S.C. Sec. 20901 et seq.).
26)Makes other minor, corresponding, clarifying, and technical
changes.
Background
SB 1094
Page 9
The initiative is the power of the people of California to
propose statutes and to propose amendments to the California
Constitution. Generally, any matter that is a proper subject of
legislation can become an initiative measure; however, no
initiative measure addressing more than one subject area may be
submitted to the voters or have any effect. An initiative
measure is placed on the ballot after its proponents
successfully satisfy the requirements prescribed by law.
Comments
According to the author, "[The] initiative system was
established as a means of giving power back to the California
voters. In recent years, however, this process has become
increasingly dominated by corporations and wealthy individuals
pushing narrower agendas. For numerous measures, volunteers
and/or grassroots support are nowhere to be found... In many
instances, nearly every signature is gathered by paid
circulators, earning a fixed amount per signature, with little
or no interest in the issue at hand. This may lead to
abbreviated, simplistic explanations of the initiative, or in
the worst cases, fraud and deception on the part of the
circulator. Currently, initiatives can qualify using solely
paid circulators, making volunteers and genuine grassroots
support for causes unnecessary, thus granting wealthy
individuals and corporations unfettered access to the ballot.
In such a system, money, not the quality or wisdom of a proposed
policy, is the deciding factor when qualifying a measure for the
ballot? Allowing monied interests unchecked access to the
ballots often results in long and confusing ballots, which can
discourage voters and be a contributing factor to record low
turnouts. In fact, lack of interest is a main reason cited for
not voting. Requiring broad-based support for ballot measures
will take steps to reignite public interest in the voting
process, while drastically reducing the number of issues a voter
must be informed on. Passing SB 1094 will be the first step to
returning our initiative process to the people."
Under the provisions of this bill, in order for a state
SB 1094
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initiative measure to qualify for the ballot, at least 5% of the
signatures gathered on the petition for that measure would have
to be collected on petition sections that were circulated by a
person who does not receive money or other valuable
consideration exclusively or primarily for the specific purpose
of soliciting signatures of electors on the petition, as
specified. This "5% requirement" does not apply to state
referendum or recall petitions, nor does it apply to local
initiatives, referenda, or recalls.
In 1988, the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court ruled that a
Colorado prohibition against the use of paid circulators for
initiative petitions violated the First Amendment's guarantee of
free speech. Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Stevens
noted that "[t]he State's interest in protecting the integrity
of the initiative process does not justify the prohibition
because the State has failed to demonstrate that it is necessary
to burden appellees' ability to communicate their message in
order to meet its concerns." Meyer v. Grant (1988), 486 U.S.
414. It could be argued that the 5% requirement imposed by this
bill could be susceptible to a court challenge in light of the
U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Meyer. However, the 5%
requirement in this bill is distinguishable from the law struck
down in Meyer and thus may be able to withstand constitutional
scrutiny.
NOTE: Please refer to the policy committee analysis for a full
discussion of this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, county
elections officials indicate that an initiative will have
separate volunteer and paid circulator-gathered petitions, and
thus will be treated as two separate petitions for their
signature-checking systems in order to meet the minimum
threshold requirement of volunteer-gathered signatures. One
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county estimated this would increase its verification costs by
about 40% for each initiative. (The county did note, however,
that if the 10% volunteer-generated petitions did not have
sufficient signatures, the 90% paid signature-gathering section
would not have to be verified, thus resulting in some cost
savings.) Depending on the number of statewide initiatives
submitted for verification, additional statewide reimbursable
costs could be up to several hundred thousand dollars per
general election. One-time General Fund costs of $55,000 for
the SOS to adopt regulations. Due to constitutional issues
raised by this bill, there is a strong potential that the state
could incur significant legal costs.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/18/16)
California Labor Federation (co-source)
California Professional Firefighters (co-source)
Secretary of State Alex Padilla
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
California Faculty Association
California School Employees Association
California State Council of the Service Employees International
Union
Courage Campaign
Equality California
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/16/16)
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-28, 8/24/16
AYES: Alejo, Arambula, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown,
Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
SB 1094
Page 12
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez,
Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Quirk,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone,
Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang,
Chávez, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Jones, Kim, Lackey, Linder, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
Melendez, Obernolte, Olsen, Patterson, Steinorth, Wagner,
Waldron, Wilk
Prepared by:Frances Tibon Estoista / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106
8/25/16 17:37:30
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