BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2524 HEARING DATE: 6/29/10
AUTHOR: EVANS ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 6/21/10
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: initiative measures
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the proponents of a proposed
initiative or referendum measure to submit the text of the
proposed measure to the Attorney General (AG) with a
written request that a circulating title and summary of the
measure be prepared, prior to circulating the petition for
signatures.
Existing law establishes a process for the AG to prepare a
summary of the chief purposes and points of a proposed
measure. Requires the AG to provide a copy of the
circulating title and summary to the Secretary of State
(SOS) within 15 days after receipt of the final version of
a proposed initiative measure, or if a fiscal estimate or
opinion is to be included, within 15 days after receipt of
the fiscal estimate or opinion prepared by the Department
of Finance (DOF) and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee
(JLBC).
Existing law allows the proponents of an initiative to
amend the proposed measure prior to the preparation of a
circulating title and summary.
This bill would require the AG to submit a copy of the text
of a proposed initiative to the SOS for posting on the SOS
website, along with the name of the initiative proponents,
for 30 days to facilitate public comment on the measure.
This bill allows any person to comment on the text of the
proposed initiative through the SOS's website, and requires
all comments to remain public for at least 90 days after
the proposed initiative is posted.
This bill allows the proponents of an initiative measure,
no earlier than 30 days and no more than 120 days after the
text of that initiative has been posted on the SOS's web
site, to:
a) Direct the AG in writing to prepare a circulating
title and summary of the proposed initiative as
originally presented;
b) Prepare a circulating title and summary of the
proposed revised initiative; or
c) Post the revised text of the proposed initiative on
the SOS's web site for another 30-day review period.
This bill allows the SOS to post an advisory on his or her
Internet Web site to inform the public that the comments
provided are nonbinding and that the SOS may not require
the proponents to incorporate suggestions.
The provisions proposed in this bill do not apply to
referendum measures.
This bill would become operative on July 1, 2011.
BACKGROUND
The current process for getting an initiative ready for
circulation is as follows:
Proponents of a proposed statewide initiative measure
are required to submit a draft of the measure to the AG
with a request for a ballot title and summary to be
prepared, prior to circulating the petition for
signatures. The request must include a payment of $200
which is refunded to the proponent if the measure
ultimately qualifies for the ballot.
Upon receipt of the fee and request, the AG must,
within 15 days of receipt of the final version of the
measure, prepare a title and a summary for submission to
the SOS. If, within the 15 day period, the proponents
of the proposed initiative submit amendments, the AG
AB 2524 (EVANS) Page
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must provide, to the SOS, a revised title and summary of
the amended final version of the measure.
If however, the measure requires a fiscal analysis, the
Department of Finance and the Joint Legislative Budget
Committee (Legislative Analyst), must prepare a fiscal
analysis within 25 working days of receipt of the final
version of the measure. Within 15 days following
receipt of the fiscal estimate of the measure, the
Attorney General prepares the title and summary of the
Initiative including any fiscal impact and submits it to
the Secretary of State.
Only after the title and summary has been submitted to
the SOS may the proponents begin to circulate the
initiative petitions for signatures.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , AB 2524 would establish a
30-day Internet-based public comment period for a
proposed statewide initiative, prior to circulation for
signatures. After the draft language of an initiative
is submitted to the Attorney General, the Attorney
General would deliver the language to the Secretary of
State, who would post the draft on his or her Internet
Web site for 30 calendar days for the purpose of
permitting public comment on the draft. Any person
would be allowed to comment on the draft of the proposed
initiative and comments would be public.
In the legislative process, the language of a bill is made
public, there are public hearings, and a measure may be
amended. The legislative process can take upwards of
six months. In contrast, in the initiative process, the
language of a measure can be written, submitted, and
qualified without public input. A number of approved
initiatives have included language that was later found
to be unclear, with various possible interpretations, or
unconstitutional. In some cases, these problems have
resulted in substantial delays in implementing the will
of the voters, costs related to litigation, and the time
and expense for courts to resolve issues.
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2. Center for Governmental Studies Report : A
recommendation in the 2008 Center for Governmental
Studies Report - Democracy by Initiative - calls for an
initiative proponent to be allowed to place either their
original initiative or an amended version of that
initiative on the ballot after a 30-day public comment
period. According to the report, "[p]roponent
amendability is important to any reform effort, [in that
it] will allow proponents to correct errors or omissions
in the texts of their initiatives before they appear on
the ballot. . . . [and] it will allow proponents to
remove defects from initiatives that might otherwise
become enshrined into law."
3. Will this Bill Promote Greater Public Discourse ? In
describing the purpose of this bill, the author contends
that a 30-day public comment period will provide the
opportunity for proponents to amend an initiative text,
which could result in less likelihood that an initiative
measure would result in unintended consequences or
delays in implementing the will of the voters.
The committee may wish to consider whether the bill will
increase public comment or as an unintended consequence,
cause confusion because the public may see one version
of the initiative during the 30-day public comment
period and then an entirely different initiative after
the ballot title and summary have been completed.
Additionally, current law does not prohibit proponents
from posting the initiative text online for public
comment. Currently, proponents can solicit public
comments before they submit a measure to the AG for
title and summary preparation.
4. Prior and Related Legislation . AB 1245 (Laird) of
2003, which was a substantially similar bill, was vetoed
by then Governor Gray Davis. In addition to concerns
with the General Fund costs, the Governor expressed
concern with the notion that because an initiative could
receive either a negative or positive public comment
while displayed on the SOS website, the public may see
one version of the initiative prior to the election and
an entirely different initiative during the election.
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AB 1968 (Niello) of this session, would have provided the
LAO with exclusive responsibilities with regard to state
initiatives and referenda, and would have modified the
time allowed for preparing the title and summary and
fiscal estimate for proposed initiative measures. AB
1968 failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 6-1
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-5
Assembly Floor: 50-26
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
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