BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1202
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 22, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
SB 1202 (DeSaulnier) - As Amended: April 12, 2010
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED
SENATE VOTE : 21-14
SUBJECT : Elections: statewide ballot pamphlet.
SUMMARY : Requires the state ballot pamphlet to contain
information about the largest contributors in support of each
ballot measure that will appear on the ballot. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires the state ballot pamphlet to include, immediately
below the analysis of a state ballot measure prepared by the
Legislative Analyst, a list of the five highest contributors
of $50,000 or more to each primarily formed committee
supporting the measure and the total amount of each of their
contributions.
2)Requires the list to be followed by a statement that the list
reflects only the highest contributors of $50,000 or more as
of 110 days before election day.
3)Provides that if a contributor is a committee controlled by a
candidate, the name of the candidate shall be listed.
4)Provides that if a contributor is a sponsored committee, the
name of the sponsor shall be listed.
5)Contains technical and corresponding changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to prepare a state
ballot pamphlet for every statewide election.
2)Requires the state ballot pamphlet to contain, among other
things, the following items:
a) A complete copy of each state ballot measure;
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b) A copy of the specific constitutional or statutory
provision, if any, that each state measure would repeal or
revise;
c) A copy of the arguments and rebuttals for and against
each state measure; and,
d) A copy of the analysis of each state measure, prepared
by the Legislative Analyst.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, to the extent that the additional information
required under the provisions of this bill extends the length of
the ballot and requires extra pages, there would be additional
expenses of approximately $66,000 per page for printing and
mailing costs. However, the SOS formats the Voter Information
Guide in 16 page increments so oftentimes there are blank pages
that could be used for these purposes.
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Amendments : To address concerns raised by committee
staff that this bill did not contain any threshold at which
contributors must be disclosed in the state ballot pamphlet,
the author has agreed to accept amendments to specify that
contributors supporting a state ballot measure will only be
identified in the state ballot pamphlet if their cumulative
contributions in support of the measure were $50,000 or more.
This analysis reflects those amendments.
2)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author, "In recent
years, interests 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 election day."
3)Will Information Be Timely and Accurate ? Because the SOS can
begin sending the state ballot pamphlet out to voters on the
40th day before an election, and due to the large amount of
lead-time necessary to produce the state ballot pamphlet and
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to have that pamphlet on public display prior to final
production, this bill would include information about
contributors to primarily formed committees supporting state
ballot measures only as of 110 days prior to the election.
While the 110-day cutoff period accommodates the schedule by
which the state ballot pamphlet must be finalized prior to
printing, it also means that most, if not all spending
intended to influence voters after a measure has qualified for
the ballot will not be disclosed in the state ballot pamphlet.
As a result, the information contained in the ballot pamphlet
could be outdated, or could give voters a misleading picture
of the true supporters of a state ballot measure.
On the other hand, because the expenses associated with
qualifying a statewide initiative for the ballot usually
exceed $1 million, this bill could result in voters being
given greater information in the state ballot pamphlet about
those entities responsible for funding the effort to qualify a
measure for the ballot.
4)Proponents, Not Opponents : This bill requires that the state
ballot pamphlet contain information about contributors to
primarily formed committees that are supporting state ballot
measures, but does not similarly require that the state ballot
pamphlet contain information about contributors to committees
that are opposing state ballot measures. The committee may
wish to consider whether it is appropriate to have the state
ballot pamphlet list contributors on one side of a ballot
measure, but not list contributors on the other side of the
ballot measure. On the other hand, as noted above, because
the state ballot pamphlet is sent to print well before
election day, and before mail ballots are sent to voters, it
is likely that relatively little money will be raised or spent
on a campaign opposing a state ballot measure by the 110th day
prior to the election. While proponents of a measure may have
spent substantial amounts to gather signatures to qualify an
initiative for the ballot, it is relatively uncommon for
initiative opponents to spend large amounts of money to
attempt to prevent something from qualifying for the ballot.
As a result, it seems unlikely that requiring the state ballot
pamphlet to contain information about contributors to
committees opposing a state ballot measure as of the 110th day
before an election would result in much information being
provided to the voters.
SB 1202
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
Department of Finance
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094