BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2357
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 28, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   AB 2357 (Saldana) - As Amended:  April 8, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to require a  
          committee primarily formed for the qualification or support of,  
          or opposition to, an initiative or ballot measure, to include in  
          its filed campaign statements the amount of each expenditure  
          made in connection with a poll or survey used to influence  
          voters regarding an initiative or ballot measure, or used to  
          gauge the public's opinion on the ballot title and summary of an  
          initiative or ballot measure.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor absorbable costs to the Fair Political Practices  
            Commission (FPPC), which administers and enforces the PRA,  
            potentially offset by penalty revenues.

          2)Potential non-reimbursable costs to local governments for  
            prosecution, offset to some extent by fine revenues.

           COMMENTS  

           Background and Purpose  .  According to the author, there were 47  
          initiative proposals submitted for review in the 1960s, 391 in  
          the 1990's, and 647 in the most recent decade.  The author  
          asserts that a  contributing factor for this significant  
          increase is that initiative proponents frequently submit  
          numerous, largely duplicative, measures to the Attorney General  
          to have their ballot titles and summaries drafted, with the  
          intent of ultimately pursuing signatures for only version.   
          According to the author, "In one particularly egregious example  
          this year, a total of seven similarly-worded initiative  
          proposals were filed.  In this practice, sometimes referred to  








                                                                  AB 2357
                                                                  Page  2

          as 'ballot-title shopping', proponents will then commission  
          polls or surveys to gauge the public's opinion of the nuanced  
          ballot titles and summaries in order to determine which version  
          might fare the best in a petition drive, or raise the most money  
          from potential contributors.

          "While it is not the intent of this bill to alter that practice,  
          it is clear that these polling activities are on par with other  
          communication efforts to qualify and pass an initiative, and  
          therefore should adhere to the same disclosure requirements.

          "The [FPPC] has found on numerous occasions that when results of  
          a poll or survey are used in a communication to advocate the  
          qualification or passage of a ballot measure, the cost of  
          conducting the poll or survey constitutes a reportable  
          expenditure.  While records of this determination can be found  
          in FPPC Advice Letters, it is not clearly stated in Code.  AB  
          2357 will codify those findings."

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081