BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1732
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Date of Hearing: April 17, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Curren Price, Chair
AB 1732 (Elections & Redistricting Committee) - As Introduced:
March 14, 2007
SUBJECT : Elections.
SUMMARY : Makes various minor and technical changes to the
Elections Code. Specifically, this bill :
1)Re-defines the term "elections official," as that term is used
in the Elections Code, so that the definition does not include
a governing board having jurisdiction over elections.
2)Requires a referendum petition for a city ordinance to be
submitted to the elections official of the legislative body of
the city within 30 days of the date the adopted ordinance is
attested by the city clerk or secretary to the legislative
body.
3)Prohibits a candidate statement submitted by a candidate for
local nonpartisan elective office from making reference to
other candidates for that office.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Defines the term "elections official," as that term is used in
the Elections Code, to mean any of the following:
a) A clerk or any person who is charged with the duty of
conducting an election.
b) A county clerk, city clerk, registrar of voters,
elections supervisor, or governing board having
jurisdiction over elections within any county, city, or
district within the state.
2)Requires a referendum petition for a city ordinance to be
submitted to the elections official of the legislative body of
the city within 30 days of the adoption of the ordinance.
3)Prohibits a candidate statement submitted by a candidate for
judicial office from making reference to other candidates for
AB 1732
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judicial office.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program;
contains reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : This is one of the Committee's omnibus
bills, containing multiple minor and technical changes to the
Elections Code.
2)Definition of Elections Official : The Elections Code
currently defines the term "elections official" to include
"[a] county clerk, city clerk, registrar of voters, elections
supervisor, or governing board having jurisdiction over
elections within any county, city, or district within the
state." However, governing boards are policy making bodies
that have no role in the conduct of elections other than the
ministerial duty to call elections and to certify election
results. As a result, it is inappropriate to include
governing boards within the definition of an "elections
official."
Furthermore, the inclusion of "governing boards" in the
definition of the term "elections official" may cause
confusion and could create a conflict if a governing board
sought to use this definition to assume the authority of
conducting elections from the person who is properly charged
with that duty.
This bill would remove the term "governing body" from the
definition of "elections official." This provision of the
bill was included at the request of the City Clerks
Association of California.
3)City Referenda : Under existing law, a person or group that
wants to use the power of referendum against a city ordinance
must submit its petition signatures within 30 days of a city
council's adoption of the ordinance. Before a petition can be
circulated, it must have attached to it a final copy of the
ordinance. In some cases involving complex city ordinances,
however, the final copy of the ordinance may not be
immediately available.
In a recent case in Oakland, the Oakland City Council passed an
AB 1732
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ordinance approving a development agreement on July 18, 2006,
but the final copy of the ordinance, including the many
exhibits, was not assembled until several days later. The
delay in assembling the final version of the ordinance reduced
the number of days the referendum's proponents had to get
their signatures.
In order to maximize the time they had to collect signatures,
the referendum's proponents used the version of the ordinance
that was presented to the city council. Unfortunately, a
number of amendments to the ordinance were taken the day of
the vote, so the version of the ordinance that was used to
collect signatures was incorrect and the referendum was thrown
out (although the requisite number of signatures had been
collected).
This bill would start the 30-day signature gathering period on
future municipal referendum attempts on the date that the
adopted ordinance is attested by the city clerk or secretary
to the legislative body. This provision will ensure that
referendum petitions have a full 30 days to obtain signatures
from the time that the ordinance is finalized. This
amendment would not aid referendum proponents in the Oakland
case since the law in effect was different at the time they
submitted their petitions.
4)Candidate Statements : Elections Code Section 13308 explicitly
prohibits candidate statements submitted by candidates for
judicial office from making reference to any other candidate
for that office. However, the California 4th District Court
of Appeals ruled in Dean v. Superior Court (1998) 62 Cal.App.
4th 638, that because Section 13307 of the Elections Code does
not specifically authorize candidates to make reference to
other candidates, that all candidates for local nonpartisan
elective office, not just judicial candidates, are prohibited
from referencing other candidates in their candidate
statements.
This bill would amend Section 13308 of the Elections Code to
make that section applicable to all candidates for local
nonpartisan elective office, not just candidates for judicial
office. By expressly prohibiting candidates from referencing
other candidates in candidate statements in accordance with
Dean , this bill will clarify state law for candidates and
election officials. This provision of the bill was included
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at the request of the City Clerks Association of California.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
City Clerks Association of California
Cynthia VanWormer, City Clerk, City of Fort Bragg
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094