BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 141 HEARING DATE: 3/15/11
AUTHOR: PRICE ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Elections: payment of expenses
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires any vacancy in a state legislative or
congressional office to be filled by a special primary and,
if needed a special run-off election.
From 1993 through 2007, the state has reimbursed counties
for the costs of special elections held to fill vacancies
in the Assembly, Senate and Congress. However, the
provision of state law that requires the state to reimburse
counties for the costs of special vacancy elections expired
January 1, 2008.
Existing law requires all expenses authorized and
necessarily incurred in the preparation for, and conduct
of, elections to be paid from the county treasuries, except
that when an election is called by the governing body of a
city the expenses shall be paid from the treasury of the
city.
This bill requires that all expenses authorized and
necessarily incurred in the preparation for and conduct of
elections proclaimed by the Governor to fill a vacancy in
the office of State Senator, or Assembly Member, or to fill
a vacancy in the office of United States Senator or
Representative in Congress, be paid by the state.
BACKGROUND
A Little Special Election History . According to the
Secretary of State, in the last 20 years, there have been
111 special primary and general elections to fill vacant
seats in the Assembly, Senate and Congress in California,
an average of 4.8 per year. The highest voter turnout for
a special election that did not coincide with an already
scheduled statewide election was 52.6 percent in 1998 when
Lois Capps was elected to fill a vacancy in the 22nd
Congressional District.
In 2009, the voter turnout in the special elections to
fill the vacancies in Senate District 26 and Assembly
District 51 garnered the lowest voter turnout in the
last 20 years, when 7.9 percent of the electorate turned
out to vote in each election.
In the January 12, 2010 Special General Election in the
72nd Assembly District, 15.6 percent of voters turned
out to vote, and 81 percent of voters voted by mail.
The average voter turnout in special elections since
1990 is 24.7 percent.
The most special legislative and congressional
elections in a single year since 1990: 18 in 1993. The
combined average voter turnout for those elections was
27 percent. Since 1990, there has been at least one
special election every year, except in 2002, 2003 and
2004.
The cost of a special election can vary widely and
differs from county to county.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author . Elections to fill legislative
and congressional vacancies add considerable general
fund expenditures by local governments. Usually, these
unscheduled elections cannot be anticipated far enough
in advance to factor budgetary costs and budget planning
by the county, and often contribute to over expended
budgets, which decrease funding for other essential
county programs. Proponents add that since 2000, there
have been at least 15 elections conducted to fill
legislative and Congressional vacancies. While election
costs to counties was over $10 million dollars, state
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reimbursement costs were less than half of the costs to
counties ($4.3 million). SB 141 would provide
reimbursement for conducting elections that cannot be
planned for and result in a significant cost burden to
counties.
2. Related and Prior Legislation . SB 106 (Blakeslee)
would require all expenses authorized and necessarily
incurred on or after January 1, 2009, and before April
19, 2011 in the preparation for, and conduct of,
elections proclaimed by the Governor to fill a vacancy
in the office of Senator, or Member of the Assembly, or
to fill a vacancy in the office of United States Senator
or member of the United States House of Representative
in Congress, be paid by the State. SB 106 is also on
today's agenda.
SB 994 (Price) of 2010 required all expenses authorized
and necessarily incurred in the preparation and conduct
of vacancy elections proclaimed by the Governor be paid
by the State. The bill was held on the Senate
Appropriations Suspense file. AB 496 (Davis) of 2010
mirrored language in SB 994, and met a similar fate on
the Senate Appropriations Suspense File. AB 1769 (Tran)
of 2010, would have required the state to pay the costs
of any special elections to fill a vacancy in the office
of State Senate, Assembly, or to fill a vacancy in the
office of the United States Senate or House of
Representative, held on or after January 1, 2009 and
before December 31, 2010. The bill was held on the
Assembly Appropriations Suspense File.
AB 37 (Johnson), Chapter 39, Statutes of 1993 originally
enacted the special election reimbursement provision,
and contained a sunset date of January 1, 1996.
Legislation extending the sunset dates have since been
introduced and passed as follows:
AB 1709 (McPherson), Chapter 1102, Statutes of 1996
extended the sunset date for the reimbursement to
January 1, 2000.
AB 547 (Longville), Chapter 790, Statutes of 1999
further extended the sunset date to January 1, 2005.
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AB 183 (Longville) of 2001 would have removed the sunset
altogether had it not been vetoed by then Governor
Davis, who in his veto stated: "Given the decline of
the state economy, there is ample time to make this
decision before the 2005 sunset."
AB 783 (Jones), Chapter 714, Statutes of 2005 reinstated
the reimbursement provision enacted by AB 37 and
extended the sunset date from January 1, 2005 to January
1, 2006.
AB 1799, (McCarthy), Chapter 727 Statutes of 2006,
extended the sunset date from January 1, 2006 until
January 1, 2007.
AB 119 (Price), Chapter 487, Statutes of 2007, extended
the sunset date from January 1, 2007 to January 1, 2008.
3. Special Vacancy Elections Queued Up . A May 3, 2011
special run-off election is scheduled to determine who
will replace former Assemblymember Ted Gaines in the 4th
Assembly District. In addition, Congresswoman Jane
Harman resigned from her 36th Congressional District
seat effective February 28, 2011. As of this writing,
the Governor has until March 14, 2011, to call the
special general election for this vacancy. The special
primary election will be held eight weeks prior to the
date of the special general election (if necessary).
4. Chaptering Out . This bill contains language in
conflict with SB 106 (Blakeslee). As both bills
progress through the legislative process, it is
suggested that double-jointing amendment language be
added to avoid chaptering out problems.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Support: California State Association of Counties (CSAC)
Orange County Board of Supervisors
Regional Council of Rural Counties (RCRC)
San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors
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Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Secretary of State
Urban Counties Caucus
Oppose: None received
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