BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 488
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Date of Hearing: August 17, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 488 (Correa) - As Amended: August 15, 2011
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to place
notification requirements on slate mailer organizations for
mailings that could be understood to represent the position of a
governmental agency or a public-safety related non-governmental
organization. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a slate mailer organization to obtain express written
consent-from a governmental agency or a nongovernmental
organization representing law enforcement, firefighting,
emergency medical, or other public safety personnel-prior to
using a logo, insignia, emblem or trademark or substantially
similar logo, insignia, emblem, or trademark of one of these
entities in a slate mailer if such use would reasonably be
understood to imply the participation or endorsement of one of
these entities.
2)Requires a slate mailer organization that sends a slate mailer
identifying itself or its source material as representing a
nongovernmental organization with a name that includes terms,
such as "peace officer," which would reasonably be understood
to imply that the organization is composed of, or affiliated
with, law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical, or
other public safety personnel, to disclose on each piece of
mail, as specified, the total number of members in that
organization.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor absorbable costs to the Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC) for enforcement related to violations of the
bill's requirements, offset to some extent by fine revenues.
SB 488
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2)Potential minor absorbable costs to the Attorney General and
potential nonreimbursable costs to local prosecutors for
enforcement, offset to some extent by fine revenues.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "Existing law requires most
slate mailers to disclose three things:
a) Who sent it.
b) Who paid to appear on it.
c) And a statement that it doesn't reflect official party
positions.
"However, slate mailers can claim to represent just about any
group or cause under the sun. SB 488 �sponsored by the
California Professional Firefighters] is an attempt to shed
some light on slate mailers that claim to represent law
enforcement, firefighting, and other public safety personnel."
1)Constitutional Issues . According to the analysis of this bill
by the Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting, this
measure could be interpreted as a violation of the United
States and California Constitutions' rights to free speech.
While the right to freedom of speech is not absolute, when a
law burdens core political speech, the restrictions on speech
generally must be "narrowly tailored to serve an overriding
state interest," McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission (1995),
514 US 334.
In light of this and other decisions, the provisions of this
bill may be susceptible to challenge on the grounds that the
bill's requirements impermissibly burden the First Amendment
rights of slate mailer organizations and of those candidates
and other individuals who use slate mailers to communicate
with voters. In particular, the provisions requiring certain
slate mailers to include a disclosure of the number of members
of the organization sending the mailer on the mailer itself
could be viewed as compelled political speech that must be
narrowly tailored to serve an overriding state interest.
2)Opposition . The American Association of Political Consultants
opposes the bill on constitutional grounds as discussed above.
SB 488
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Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081