BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1732|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1732
Author: Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SEN. ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 4-0, 6/20/07
AYES: Cogdill, Migden, Padilla, Calderon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Battin
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/10/07 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Elections
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill: (1) redefines 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, and (3) prohibits a candidate statement submitted by
a candidate for local nonpartisan elective office from
making reference to other candidates for that office.
CONTINUED
AB 1732
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ANALYSIS : This is one of the Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee's omnibus bills, containing
multiple minor and technical changes to the Elections Code.
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 removes 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.
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 several days later. The delay in
assembling the final version of the ordinance reduced the
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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 starts 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 amends 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 clarifies state law for
candidates and election officials. This provision of the
bill was included at the request of the City Clerks
Association of California.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/28/07)
California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials
City Clerks Association of California
Cynthia VanWormer, City Clerk, City of Fort Bragg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/10/07
AYES: Adams, Aghazarian, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Benoit,
Berg, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Brownley, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De
Leon, DeSaulnier, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans,
Feuer, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Garcia, Hancock,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Horton, Houston, Huff, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Karnette, Keene, Krekorian, La Malfa,
Laird, Leno, Levine, Lieber, Ma, Maze, Mendoza, Mullin,
Nakanishi, Nava, Niello, Parra, Plescia, Portantino,
Price, Richardson, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio,
Spitzer, Strickland, Swanson, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
Walters, Wolk, Nunez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson, Dymally, Garrick, Lieu, Sharon
Runner, Ruskin, Soto, Vacancy
DLW:nl 6/29/07 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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