BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1851
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 2, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 1851 (Allen) - As Amended:  April 24, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

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

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires county elections officials to allow for 
          public access to the proponent's county, municipal, or special 
          district initiative measure materials that are filed with the 
          elections officials pursuant to current law. Specifically, this 
          bill requires county elections officials to:

          1)Keep on file these materials until the day after it is 
            determined the initiative petition does not qualify, the day 
            after the election, or the day after the proposed ordinance is 
            adopted by the appropriate governing board.

          2)Furnish copies of the materials to any person upon request. 
            Elections officials may charge a fee not exceeding the actual 
            cost of providing the copies.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor costs to counties, covered by fees, to provide copies upon 
          request of initiative materials.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  . Current law requires proponents of an initiative, 
            before circulating any initiative petition in a county, city, 
            or special district, to file with the county elections 
            official a notice of intention to do so. The notice must 
            include the names and business or residence addresses of at 
            least one, but no more than five, proponents of the petition, 
            and be accompanied by the written text of the initiative and 
            request that a ballot title and summary be prepared. The 
            notice of intention may also include a printed statement, not 








                                                                  AB 1851
                                                                  Page  2

            exceeding 500 words, stating the reason for the proposed 
            initiative.

           2)Purpose  . The author notes that, once the title and summary has 
            been furnished to the proponents, the elections official is 
            not required to retain the materials described above on file 
            as a matter of public record. AB 1851 is intended to increase 
            transparency and make as much information as possible 
            available to voters by requiring that these materials be kept 
            on file and made available to anyone, for a fee, while the 
            initiative is being circulated or is pending before the 
            voters.

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