BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1272|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1272
Author: Kehoe (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 5-0, 4/19/12
AYES: Correa, La Malfa, De Le�n, Gaines, Lieu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Political party organization: county central
committees
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill (1) deletes the requirement that
county central committee members of the Democratic Party of
California, the California Republican Party, the American
Independent Party of California, and the Peace and Freedom
Party be elected at every statewide direct primary election
and instead only permits those members to be elected at
every presidential primary election, and (2) provides that
a county central committee of those parties noted above, in
accordance with the rules and regulations adopted by their
respective committee, may select its members at any time by
holding a caucus or convention, or by using any other
method of selection approved by the committee.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes the political party
organization of the Democratic Party of California, the
CONTINUED
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California Republican Party, the American Independent Party
of California, and the Peace and Freedom Party of
California. Existing law requires the members of a county
central committee of each of those parties be elected in
each county at every statewide direct primary election.
This bill deletes the requirement that county central
committee members be elected at every statewide direct
primary election and instead only permits those members to
be elected at every presidential primary election.
This bill also specifies that a county central committee of
any of the parties noted above, in accordance with the
rules and regulations adopted by their respective
committee, may select its members at any time by holding a
caucus or convention, or by using any other method of
selection approved by the committee.
Background
County central committees and county councils are
non-public offices comprised of members of political
parties who are involved in party fund-raising and
candidate-endorsement activities. County elections
officials are required to conduct elections for these
non-public offices in all direct primary elections.
Unlike other candidates, county central committee/county
council candidates do not pay filing fees. The cost of
their elections is completely subsidized by county
government. According to a survey conducted by the San
Diego County Registrar of Voters, in the June 2008 Primary
Election, county central committee/county council costs
reported by 20 of the 58 counties totaled $2.8 million
statewide.
Existing law requires the central committees of the
American Independent, Democratic, Republican, and Peace and
Freedom parties be elected at every statewide direct
primary election (two year intervals). The California
Association of Clerks and Election Officials states that,
until recently, the state had a "modified open" primary
election system that restricted voters to the ballot of the
party with which they chose to affiliate. Under the
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"modified open" primary, only those voters who were not
affiliated with a qualified political party were able to
select the ballot of any party which allowed them to
participate. No party allowed unaffiliated voters to
participate in their county central committee and county
council elections. Counties printed a separate ballot for
voters in each political party.
In June 2010, voters adopted the "Top Two" primary election
system, which essentially eliminates separate partisan
primary elections at the state level. Under this new
system, all voter-nominated (formerly called "partisan")
contests will appear on a single ballot, and voters will be
able to select candidates regardless of the voter's or the
candidate's political party affiliation. County elections
officials are studying the effects of the "Top Two" primary
election system, and most counties estimate they will
require at least one, and in many cases two, extra ballots
unless central committee and county council contests are
eliminated from the ballot. In the June 5, 2012 Primary
Election, Democrats will allow nonpartisan voters to
participate in their presidential primary but not in the
central committee contest. This necessitates a separate
ballot for nonpartisan voters who are entitled to vote in
the Democratic presidential primary but not the Democratic
central committee contests. In the 2014 primary, the
effect of central committees will be even more pronounced
because it is the only partisan contest in the election.
All voters will receive a generic ballot except those
permitted to vote in central committee contests, who will
receive an additional ballot. If all voters in parties
that generally have central committee contests received
this ballot-roughly 7.5 million Democrats and 5.3 million
Republicans-the printing cost alone will be $3.6 million.
By moving central committee elections to presidential
primaries, counties will not have to print partisan, party
specific ballots for gubernatorial primary elections.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/4/12)
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Alpine County Clerk
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
Contra Costa County Clerk
Santa Cruz County Clerk/Elections
Secretary of State
Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/16/12)
Peace and Freedom Party of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
existing law specifies various procedures for conducting
County Central Committee elections for specified political
parties: the American Independent, Democratic, Peace and
Freedom, and Republican parties. This bill seeks to amend
the frequency by which counties must conduct those
elections. The sole subject of this bill is the frequency
by which central committee elections must occur. Elections
Code provides that country central committee members for
each of the four parties mentioned above shall be elected
in each county at every statewide direct primary election.
The effect of that provision is to require county central
committee elections every two years, but that provision has
proved costly for counties. Although this bill specifies
that publicly funded ballot elections for central committee
members will happen every four years instead of every two
years, parties may still opt to have two-year central
committee member terms by selecting membership using
internal party procedures outside of the public election
process. Political parties have statutory authority to opt
not to use the state elections process to select their
central committee members.
In Wilson v. San Luis Obispo County Democratic Central
Committee (2009), the Second District California Court of
Appeal affirmed that political parties have the right to
select central committee members using internal
machinations that do not involve publicly funded ballot
elections. This bill is a measure that seeks to provide
counties with fiscal relief by reducing the taxpayer funded
costs associated with political party central committee
elections. Although the inclusive amount of cost savings
to taxpayers is unknown, any measure that seeks to provide
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fiscal relief to cash strapped local governments is timely
and necessary.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : The Peace and Freedom Party of
California states that "In the name of administrative
efficiency, this bill would make a bad situation worse. We
need to strengthen the role of voters in governing the
political parties they support, not weaken it even further.
In addition, SB 1272 contains a provision that would have
a direct impact on the Peace and Freedom Party quite apart
from its stated purpose. As presently worded, new
Elections Code Sections 7230, 7425, 7675 and 7784 would
give county organizations autonomy from their respective
state organizations with respect to the selection of county
central committee members. In the Peace and Freedom Party,
members elected to County Central Committees are
simultaneously elected to the State Central Committee and
become delegates to the state convention. For this reason,
the state organization must be able to ensure uniformity of
procedures across counties. As presently worded, the bill
would permit county organizations
to ignore State Central Committee bylaws with respect to
selection of members."
DLW:kcm 5/16/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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