BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1689|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1689
Author: Torres (D)
Amended: 6/17/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & C. A. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 4/22/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Elections: Democratic Party
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill aligns provisions of state law
governing the selection of delegates and alternates to
represent the state at a National Convention of the
Democratic Party with the standing rules and bylaws of the
Democratic National Committee.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, the Alquist Open Presidential
Primary Act, specifies procedures for the selection of
delegates and alternates to represent the state at the
national convention of the Democratic Party to nominate a
candidate for President of the United States. Under the
Act, participation in the delegate selection process is
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restricted to Democratic voters only who publicly declare
their party preference as Democratic supporters and whose
affidavits of registration declare the Democratic Party as
their party affiliation. The delegates are required to be
selected from each congressional district based on a
specified formula.
This bill requires the elements and practices to select
delegates and alternates to represent the state at a
National Convention of the Democratic Party to be the same
as set forth in the standing rules and bylaws of the
Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the California
Democratic Party (CDP), including the following:
1. The form and timeline for any required statement of
candidacy for delegate candidates.
2. The identification of the presidential preference of
delegate candidates.
3. The schedule for, conduct of, and type of districts used
to organize, caucuses for the selection of district
delegate and alternate candidates.
4. The allocation of delegates and alternates to
presidential preferences based on the results of the
primary election.
This bill requires the CDP to post any standing rules and
bylaws related to the above stated provisions on its
Internet Web site.
This bill permits a voter who has declined to state a party
affiliation to participate in the delegate selection
process in primaries of the CDP, if the CDP authorizes such
participation pursuant to existing law.
This bill requires the chairperson of the CDP to notify the
Secretary of State (SOS), on or before the 120th day prior
to the presidential primary election, regarding the type
of districts that may be used to select delegates and
alternates for the national convention where the nominee of
the Democratic Party for President of the United States
will be selected.
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This bill removes a requirement that delegates and
alternates be selected based on congressional districts,
and instead provides that delegates and alternates will be
selected based on a formula specified by the DNC.
This bill moves up the deadline, from the 63rd day to the
68th day before a presidential primary election, for the
SOS to publicly announce and distribute to the news media
for publication a list of the selected Democratic
candidates that he/she intends to place on the ballot at
the following presidential primary election.
This bill changes the date by which a Democratic candidate
has to notify the SOS that he/she wishes to withdraw
his/her name from the list of recognized presidential
candidates from the 60th day to the 68th day before the
presidential primary election.
This bill moves up the deadline, from the 63rd day to the
73rd day prior to a presidential primary election, for an
unselected candidate or an uncommitted delegation of
delegates to the National Convention of the Democratic
Party to submit nomination papers to appear on the ballot
at the presidential primary election.
This bill provides that if the DNC concludes after the
deadline for the SOS to deliver certificates of nomination
to local elections officials, the Chairperson of the
Democratic State Central Committee shall do one of the
following:
(A) Notify the SOS of the "apparent" nomination of the
Democratic candidates for President and Vice
President of the United States not less than 78 days
prior to the election if all of the following
conditions apply:
A candidate for President has attained a
sufficient number of delegate votes to assure his or
her nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
The candidate described in subparagraph (A) has
identified a person who will be nominated to run for
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the office of Vice President.
The Democratic National Convention is likely to
nominate the person who is the choice of the
candidate for President in the Vice Presidential
nomination.
(B) Notify the SOS of the apparent nomination of the
Democratic candidates for President and Vice
President of the United States as soon as each of
these apparent nominations become known but not less
than 61 days prior to the election, if all of the
following conditions apply:
A candidate for President has attained a
sufficient number of delegate votes to assure his or
her nomination at the Democratic National Convention.
The candidate described in subparagraph (A) has
identified a person who will be nominated to run for
the office of Vice President.
The Democratic National Convention is likely to
nominate the person who is the choice of the
candidate for President in the Vice Presidential
nomination.
This bill requires the previous section covering the DNC
concluding after the deadline for the SOS to deliver
certificates of nomination to local elections officials
becomes inoperative on January 1, 2013, unless a later
enacted statute deletes or extends that date.
This bill requires the SOS to prepare the certificates of
nomination to include the names of the Democratic
candidates for President and Vice President as notified by
the Chairperson of the Democratic State Central Committee.
This bill makes various minor and technical changes to
provisions of state law governing the Democratic delegate
selection process to conform with the rules and bylaws of
the CDP and DNC, and repeals various provisions of state
law that are inconsistent with those rules and bylaws.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/2/10)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
California Democratic Party
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
Saldana, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra
Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blumenfield, Caballero, Huber, Huffman,
Norby, Vacancy
DLW:mw 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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