BILL NUMBER: AB 2410	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Fuentes

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to amend Section 13 of the Elections Code, relating to
elective office.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2410, as introduced, Fuentes. Legally qualified candidate:
felony conviction.
   Existing law provides that a person is not a legally qualified
candidate for any office, for party nomination for a partisan office,
or for nomination to participate in the general election for any
voter-nominated office unless the person has filed a declaration of
candidacy or statement of write-in candidacy with the proper official
for the particular election or primary, or is entitled to have his
or her name placed on a general election ballot for a specified
reason.
   This bill, in addition, would provide that a person is not a
legally qualified candidate for, and may not assume, any elective
public office in this state if the person has been convicted in this
state of a felony, or has been convicted under the laws of any other
state, the United States, or any foreign government or country of a
crime that, if committed in this state, would be a felony, and has
not been pardoned by the Governor of this state, the governor or
other officer authorized to grant pardons in another state, the
President of the United States, or the officer of the foreign
government or country authorized to grant pardons in that foreign
jurisdiction.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 13 of the Elections Code is amended to read:
   13.  (a)  No   A  person  shall
be considered   is not  a legally qualified
candidate for any office, for party nomination for a partisan office,
or for nomination to participate in the general election for any
voter-nominated office, under the laws of this state  , 
unless that person has filed a declaration of candidacy or statement
of write-in candidacy with the proper official for the particular
election or primary, or is entitled to have his or her name placed on
a general election ballot by reason of having been nominated at a
primary election, or having been selected to fill a vacancy on the
general election ballot as provided in Section  8806
  8807  , or having been selected as an independent
candidate pursuant to Section 8304.
   (b) Nothing in this section shall be construed as preventing or
prohibiting  any   a  qualified voter of
this state from casting a ballot for any person by writing the name
of that person on the ballot, or from having that ballot counted or
tabulated, nor shall any provision of this section be construed as
preventing or prohibiting  any   a  person
from standing or campaigning for any elective office by means of a
"write-in" campaign. However, nothing in this section shall be
construed as an exception to the requirements of Section 15341. 
   (c) A person is not a legally qualified candidate for, and shall
not be permitted to assume, any elective public office in this state
if the person has been convicted in this state of a felony, or has
been convicted under the laws of any other state, the United States,
or any foreign government or country of a crime that, if committed in
this state, would be a felony, and has not been pardoned by the
Governor of this state, the governor or other officer authorized to
grant pardons in another state, the President of the United States,
or the officer of the foreign government or country authorized to
grant pardons in that foreign jurisdiction.  
   (c) 
    (d)  It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting
this section, to enable the Federal Communications Commission to
determine who is a "legally qualified candidate" in this state for
the purposes of administering Section 315 of Title 47 of the United
States Code.