BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: SB 1202 HEARING DATE:
4/20/10
AUTHOR: DESAULNIER ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 4/12/10
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Statewide ballot pamphlet: measure: contributories
DESCRIPTION
Existing law specifies what information must be included in
the statewide ballot
pamphlet, including, but not limited to:
A complete copy of each measure.
A copy of the arguments and rebuttals for and against
each state measure.
A copy of the analysis of each state measure by the
Legislative Analyst.
Tables of contents, indexes, art work, graphics, and
other materials that the
Secretary of State determines will make the ballot
pamphlet easier to
understand or more useful for the average voter.
This bill would also require the statewide ballot pamphlet
to include, immediately below the analysis by the
Legislative Analyst, a list of the five highest
contributors to each primarily formed committee supporting
each state measure and the total amount of each of their
contributions. For purposes of this requirement, if a
contributor is a committee controlled by a candidate, the
name of the candidate must be listed and if a contributor
is a sponsored committee, the name of the sponsor shall be
listed.
This bill would also require a statement following the list
that it reflects only the highest contributors of the 110
days before Election Day.
BACKGROUND
All Measures? All Contributions ? This bill would require
disclosure in the statewide ballot pamphlet of the top five
contributors to each primarily formed committee supporting
each state ballot measure. These measure include both
initiative measures placed on the ballot through voter
petitions as well as measure placed on the ballot by the
Legislature. The 110 day cut-off period accommodates the
schedule by which the statewide ballot pamphlet must be
finalized prior to printing. Since the expenses associated
with qualifying a statewide initiative usually exceed $1
million, the ballot pamphlet would disclose, among others,
those entities responsible for funding the qualification
effort.
Controlled and Sponsored Committees . A candidate or state
measure proponent controls a committee if he of she, his or
her agent, or any other committee he or she controls has a
significant influence on the actions or decisions of the
committee. Any entity, except a candidate or other
individual, may be the sponsor of a committee. An entity
sponsors a committee is any of the following apply:
The committee receives 80 percent of more of its
contributions from the entity
or its members, officers, employees, or shareholders.
The entity collects contributions for the committee by
use of payroll
deductions of dues from it's members, officers, or
employees.
The entity, alone or in combination with other
organizations, provides all or
nearly all of the administrative services for the
committee.
The entity, alone or in combination with other
organizations, sets the policies
for soliciting contributions or making expenditures of
committee funds.
COMMENTS
SB 1202 (DESAULNIER) Page
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1. According to the author , in recent years, observers
noted that interest have
increasingly turned to California's initiative system
to amend the California
Constitution or state statutes to benefit themselves.
While California law does
require that any advertisement for or against any
ballot measure shall include
a disclosure statement identifying any person whose
cumulative contributions
are $50,000 or more, SB 1202 will extend contributor
disclosure to the Voter
Information Guide received by each voter before
elections day.
2. Prior Legislation . This bill is similar in the intent
to AB 680 (Mazzoni) of 1995,
which was eventually gutted and used for a different
purpose and SB 734
(Roberti) of 1991 which failed passage in the Assembly
Elections,
Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments
Committee.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: None received
SB 1202 (DESAULNIER) Page
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