BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS 
                         AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
                           Senator Lou Correa, Chair


          BILL NO:  SB 1188             HEARING DATE:4/19/12
          AUTHOR:   Senate E&CA Comm.   ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon 
          Estoista
          AMENDED:  4/9/12 
          FISCAL:   NO
          
                                     SUBJECT

           Elections
                                   DESCRIPTION  
           
            Existing law  provides that wherever any petition or paper 
          is submitted to the elections official, each section of the 
          petition or paper shall have attached to it a declaration 
          signed by the circulator of the petition or paper, setting 
          forth, in the circulator's own hand, the following:
           
             The printed name of the circulator.

             The residence address of the circulator, giving street 
             and number, or if no street or number exists, adequate 
             designation of residence so that the location may be 
             readily ascertained.

             The dates between which all the signatures to the 
             petition or paper were obtained.

           Existing law  provides the circulator shall certify to the 
          content of the declaration as to its truth and correctness, 
          under penalty of perjury, with the signature of his or her 
          name at length, including given name, middle name or 
          initial, or initial and middle name. The circulator shall 
          state the date and the place of execution on the 
          declaration immediately preceding his or her signature.
           
          Existing law  provides the manner in which the declaration 
          of a petition circulator is prepared.   Existing law  further 
          requires that a circulator certify to the content of the 
          declaration as to its truth and correctness, under penalty 
          of perjury, with the signature of his or her name at 
          length, including given name, middle name or initial, or 









          initial and middle name  . The circulator shall state the 
          date and the place of execution on the declaration 
          immediately preceding his or her signature.

           This bill  deletes the requirement that a middle name or 
          initial be provided by the circulator in order for the 
          petition to be certified by an elections official.

           This bill  also corrects two obsolete Elections Code 
          references contained in the Water Code related to 
          all-mailed ballot elections.
                                    BACKGROUND  

          This bill is one of the Committee's annual omnibus bills 
          that contains minor, technical and clean-up language to the 
          Elections Code.

                                     COMMENTS 
          
           1.This bill does two things  :  it corrects two obsolete 
            Election Code references contained in the Water Code and 
            deletes the requirement that a middle name or initial 
            also be provided by a circulator in order for a petition 
            to be valid.

          As currently written, the Elections Code requires petition 
            circulators to print their name and to sign the 
            Declaration of Circulator (DOC) using their complete 
            name,  including  middle name or initial.  Many people do 
            not use a middle name or initial when affixing their 
            signatures to documents.  Failure on the part of a 
            circulator to include a middle name or initial on his or 
            her DOC should not invalidate otherwise valid signatures 
            on a petition.
           
                                   POSITIONS  

          Sponsor: Author

           Support: None received

           Oppose:  None received


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