BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ron Calderon, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1732 HEARING DATE: 6/20/07
AUTHOR: Assembly E&R Comm. ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections
DESCRIPTION
Existing law defines the term "elections official," as that
term is used in the Elections Code, to mean any of the
following:
A clerk or any person who is charged with the duty of
conducting an election.
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.
This bill 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.
Existing law 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.
This bill 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.
Existing law prohibits a candidate statement submitted by a
candidate for judicial office from making reference to
other candidates for judicial office.
This bill prohibits a candidate statement submitted by a
candidate for local nonpartisan elective office from making
reference to other candidates for that office.
BACKGROUND
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".
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 ordinance approving a development agreement on
July 18, 2006, but the final copy of the ordinance,
including the many exhibits, was not assembled until
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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.
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.
COMMENTS
1. This measure is one of four Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee's omnibus bills on the agenda
today. Each containing various minor, technical, and
clarifying changes to the Elections Code.
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PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-0
Assembly Floor: 72-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
City Clerks Association of California
Cynthia VanWormer, City Clerk, City of Fort
Bragg
Oppose: None received
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