BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 6
Author: Saldana (D)
Amended: 4/28/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM : 3-2, 7/7/09
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu
NOES: Walters, Strickland
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-28, 5/28/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Initiatives: paid circulators
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires professional petition firms,
entities that pay individuals to circulate petitions and
gather signatures to qualify state or local initiatives, to
register annually with the Secretary of State.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes a process for
proposing initiative measures submitted to voters in
California and sets forth qualifications for persons who
circulate initiative petitions. Provides that a person who
is a voter or who is qualified to register to vote in this
state may circulate an initiative or referendum petition
anywhere within the state. Provides that only proponents
of an initiative may file petitions.
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This bill:
1. Defines the term, "professional petition firm" as an
entity that pays individuals to circulate petitions and
gather signatures for the purpose of qualifying an
initiative on a state or local election ballot.
2. Requires a professional petition firm to register
annually with the Secretary of State (SOS) in order to
pay individuals to circulate petitions and collect
signatures to qualify an initiative on a state or local
election ballot.
3. Requires the registration to include the full name,
address, and partners, owners, or officers of the firm
and to be accompanied by a registration fee to be
established by the SOS.
4. Requires the SOS to use the fee revenues to maintain on
its Internet website a directory of professional
petition firms and defray any other associated costs
with the requirements of this bill.
5. Requires a member of a professional petition firm to
review the law relating to obtaining petition signatures
with each paid petition circulator as a condition of the
circulator's hiring.
6. Requires a copy of the training materials provided to
the prospective petition firm employees to be submitted
by the firm to the SOS. Requires the firm to submit a
statement to the SOS for each circulator, signed by the
circulator and the individual conducting the review,
that the circulator has received the review.
Prior legislation . SB 1686 (Denham), 2007-08 Session,
would have made it a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine not
exceeding $5,000, by imprisonment in a county jail not
exceeding one year, or by both the fine and imprisonment,
for a person, company, organization, company official, or
other organizational officer in charge of a person who
circulates an initiative, referendum, or recall petition to
knowingly direct or permit the person to make a false
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affidavit concerning the initiative, referendum, or recall
petition. SB 1686 was vetoed by the Governor, though the
Governor did not express any policy objections to the bill.
Instead, the bill was one of 136 bills that received the
same veto message: "The historic delay in passing the
2008-2009 State Budget has forced me to prioritize the
bills sent to my desk at the end of the year's legislative
session. Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are
the highest priority for California. This bill does not
meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this time."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/20/09)
Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
OPPOSITION : (Verified 7/20/09)
California Family Council
Capitol Resource Family Impact
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "Over the
decades California has seen the initiative process shift
from what was originally envisioned to be a volunteer-based
effort to a system where increasingly large sums of money
are required in order to qualify a measure for the ballot.
Qualifying an initiative for the ballot now necessitates
the use of paid signature gathers (usually employed by a
professional petition firm, at a typical cost of between $1
million and $3 million per petition), yet unfortunately,
the State lacks a mechanism to verify whether or not these
individuals are provided with sufficient understanding of
the laws that regulate this activity, including what
constitutes fraud. This bill seeks to create a proactive
requirement that better ensures that proper training of
these laws is provided."
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The California Family Council
is opposed because they do not want to inhibit the free
exercise of the initiative process.
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Eng, Feuer,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hall, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Monning, Nava, John A. Perez, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana,
Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico,
Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill,
Blakeslee, Conway, Cook, DeVore, Duvall, Emmerson,
Fletcher, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman,
Harkey, Jeffries, Knight, Logue, Miller, Niello, Nielsen,
Silva, Smyth, Audra Strickland, Tran, Villines
NO VOTE RECORDED: Evans, Huber, Nestande
DLW:mw 7/24/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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