BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: SB 441 HEARING DATE:4/5/11
AUTHOR: VARGAS ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: AS INTRODUCED
FISCAL: NO
SUBJECT
Elections: contributions
DESCRIPTION
Existing law allows the county central committee of each
qualified political party to supply to its county elections
official, not less than 83 days prior to the direct primary
election, a party contributor envelope or a one-page
letter, in which both sides may be utilized, to be included
in the mailing of the sample ballot to each of the
registered voters in the county who have disclosed a
preference for that same party on the voter's affidavit of
registration. In lieu of supplying the elections official
with a sufficient number of copies of the one-page letter,
a county central committee may supply the elections
official, not less than 83 days before the direct primary
election, with the text of the letter and request the
elections official to print, or cause to be printed, a
sufficient number of copies of the letter to accommodate
the mailing.
The elections official shall notify the respective county
committee of, and the committee shall reimburse the county
for, any actual costs incurred by the inclusion or
printing, or both. The elections official may require the
county committee to post a bond to ensure the
reimbursement.
This bill would repeal these provisions thereby no longer
permitting party central committees to place these
solicitations in sample ballots.
BACKGROUND
While qualified party central committees are currently
permitted to include letters or party contributor envelopes
in county sample ballot booklets to solicit funds for the
party, SCA 4 (Maldonado) Res. Ch. 2 Statutes of 2009 and
implementing language of SB 6 (Maldonado), Ch. 1 Statutes
of 2009, changed the playing field.
The implementation of the new "top two" primary election
system requires all candidates for partisan office to
appear together on primary election ballots, virtually
eliminating political-party-specific voter information
materials and partisan elections - excluding the office of
President and county central committees. As such, this
change in how primary elections are conducted impacts the
ability to effectively distribute political party central
committee materials.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author , Current law allows party
central committees to include letters or envelopes in
county sample ballot booklets to solicit funds for the
party. In the June 2010 Statewide Primary Election, in
the counties of San Diego, Yolo, and Los Angeles,
central committees included letters which not only
solicited funds, but also advocated for the election of
certain candidates. In San Diego County, the mailing
was so focused on the central committee's preferred
candidates, that it had the appearance of a slate
mailer. San Diego County was sued by an opposing party
and was forced to spend over $25,000 in legal fees to
defend the mailing when in fact the County was merely
complying with current law. A superior court upheld the
ruling; but the matter is now on appeal and the County
is accused of subsidizing the mailing. Counties are
simply not in a fiscal position to mount a legal defense
of the practice of private organizations such as
organized central committees.
In addition, with the new "top two" primary election
rules, all candidates for partisan office will appear
together on primary election ballots. Therefore there
will be no separate sample ballot booklets by party and
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in fact the concept of separate partisan elections has
been eliminated for all contests except President and
county central committees. Counties' ability to
distribute these contributor envelopes and letters will
be impeded by the lack of separate party booklets.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
Support: Alpine County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder
Lake County Registrar of Voters
Merced County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
Plumas County Clerk-Recorder
Santa Barbara County Clerk, Recorder and Assessor
Registrar of Voters
Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
Oppose: None received
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