BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1272
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Date of Hearing: June 19, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
SB 1272 (Kehoe) - As Amended: June 12, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 30-4
SUBJECT : Political party organization: county central
committees.
SUMMARY : Makes changes to the timing of county central
committee elections and makes other party-specific changes.
Specifically, 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 of California be
elected at every statewide direct primary election.
2)Permits county central committee members of the parties listed
above to be elected at every presidential primary election.
3)Permits county central committee members of the Democratic
Party of California, in accordance with the rules and
regulations adopted by the committee, to select its members at
any time by holding a caucus or convention, or by using any
other method of selection approved by the committee.
4)Permits county central committee members of the California
Republican Party, in accordance with the rules and regulations
adopted by the committee, to determine the number, the
district allocation, and the manner of election of its members
at any time by holding a caucus or convention, or by using any
other method approved by the committee. Provides that these
provisions cannot be construed to permit a county central
committee to remove an ex officio member of the committee.
5)Permits county central committee members of the American
Independent Party of California to select its members at any
time by holding a caucus or convention in accordance with the
rules and regulations adopted by the county central committee
and the state central committee, or by using any other method
of selection approved by the state central committee.
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6)Permits county central committee members of the Peace and
Freedom Party of California, in accordance with the rules and
regulations adopted by the committee and subject to the bylaws
of the state central committee, to select its members at any
time by holding a caucus or convention, or by using any other
method of selection approved by the committee.
7)Permits county central committees to determine the length of
time that a candidate for membership on that committee must be
shown by his or her affidavit of registration to be affiliated
with the political party of that committee. Permits a county
central committee to determine the length of time that a
candidate for membership on that committee must not have been
registered as affiliated with a qualified political party
other the political party of that committee.
8)Requires nomination documents to be available to candidates
for membership on a county central committee beginning on the
158th day prior to the primary election.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the political party organization of the Democratic
Party of California, the California Republican Party, the
American Independent Party of California, and the Peace and
Freedom Party of California. Requires the members of a county
central committee of each of those parties to be elected in
each county at every statewide direct primary election.
2)Requires, until otherwise provided for by statute, that a
newly qualified political party carries on its activities in
accordance with procedures applicable to any other political
party that has detailed statutory provisions applicable to its
operation.
3)Requires a candidate for membership to a political party's
county central committee to be affiliated with that political
party at the time of presentation of the declaration of
candidacy and continuously for not less than three months
immediately prior to that time, or for as long as he or she
has been eligible to be register to vote in the state.
Prohibits a candidate for membership to a political party's
county central committee from having been registered with any
other political party during the 12 months prior to filing the
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declaration of candidacy.
4)Requires nomination documents for candidates for county
central committee to be available beginning on the 113th day
prior to the direct primary election.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
County elections offices are experiencing the same
significant funding challenges that all county departments
are experiencing. This provides elections officers with
measured fiscal relief regarding elections for private
political parties. State law requires that county central
committee elections for political parties be conducted
during each statewide primary, which amounts to requiring
taxpayers to spend public dollars on private political
party elections every two years. Additionally, Proposition
14 - the Open Primary Law - requires that nonpartisan
ballots for state and federal candidates be provided to all
voters for primary elections. But central committee
elections are partisan races and elections officials must
also provide ballots for those contests - at taxpayer
expense. Therefore, elections officers from throughout
California are collectively on the hook for millions of
dollars to develop and furnish partisan ballots for central
committee elections under current law. This bill reduces
county expenses by holding central committee elections
every four years - not every two years - during direct
presidential primaries. Political parties that need to
hold elections more often would retain authority to have as
many elections as deemed necessary using by holding
elections outside of the state process using internal party
means.
2)County Central Committees : 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 election officials
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are required to conduct elections for these non-public offices
in all statewide direct primary elections.
Unlike other candidates, county central committee 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.
3)"Top Two" Primary : Prior to the "top two" primary system, the
state had a "modified open" primary election system. Under the
"modified open" primary, candidates running for partisan
office appeared only on their party's ballot, and voters were
restricted to the ballot of the party with which they chose to
affiliate. Those voters who were not affiliated with a
qualified political party were able to select the ballot of
any party that allowed them to participate, however political
parties generally did not allow voters who were not affiliated
with the party to participate in the party's county central
committee elections.
In February 2009, the Legislature approved SCA 4 (Maldonado),
Res. Chapter 2, Statutes of 2009, which was enacted by the
voters as Proposition 14 on the June 2010 statewide primary
election ballot. Proposition 14 implemented a "top two"
primary election system in California for most elective state
and federal offices.
Under the new "top two" primary system all candidates running,
regardless of their party affiliation, appear on single
combined ballot and voters can vote for any candidate from any
political party. However, the "top two" primary system does
not affect the election for president or county central
committee (which are still party specific contests). As a
result, voters who are not affiliated with a political party
generally are unable to participate in county central
committee contests.
Proponents of this bill argue that the "top two" primary
system has created a more complex primary system in which it
is more challenging for voters to understand the offices for
which they are eligible to vote. Under current law, county
central committees of the American Independent, Democratic,
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Green, Libertarian, Republican, and Peace and Freedom parties
are elected at every statewide direct primary election (two
year intervals). Due to the new "top two" primary system,
county central committee contests end up being the only
partisan contests listed on gubernatorial primary election
ballots.
Proponents contend that consolidating county central committee
elections with the presidential primary election will reduce
voter confusion because offices that continue to be elected by
party will be held every four years.
4)County Staff Time and Costs : As stated above, county central
committees of the American Independent, Democratic, Green,
Libertarian, Republican, and Peace and Freedom parties are
elected every two years at statewide direct primary elections.
A recent survey conducted by the California Association of
Clerks and Elections Officials illustrates that a significant
proportion of candidates that file to run for office are
county central committee candidates. For example, in the June
2010 statewide direct primary, 25 out of the 53 counties that
provided data found that county central committee candidates
represented 50 percent or more of the total number of
candidates that filed for office. According to county
representatives, many county central committee candidates are
first time candidates and usually less experienced with the
process, requiring more time and assistance from county
election staff. Additionally, staff time is also spent on,
among other tasks, checking signatures and, translating and
proofing materials for county central committee contests,
which typically do not end up on the ballot as there often are
fewer candidates than the number of open seats. This bill,
which proposes to change the frequency at which county central
committee elections occur, will not only decrease the
significant staff time spent on these candidate filings, but
subsequently is expected to result in cost savings for county
elections officials.
5)Nomination Timeframes : County central committee candidates
have different filing requirements then federal or state
legislative candidates. One major difference, as discussed
above, is that county central committee candidates are not
required to pay filing fees. As a result, county central
committee elections are completely subsidized by the county
governments. Moreover, since county central committee
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candidates are not required to pay a filing fee, consequently
they do not have the option to collect signatures in-lieu of
paying a filing fee, as federal and state legislative
candidates do. Under existing law, any signatures collected
on a petition for signatures in-lieu of paying a filing fee
can be applied toward the number of signatures that the
candidate needs to gather on nomination papers.
Critics have argued that the timeframe for county central
committee candidates to collect signatures for their
nomination papers is not a sufficient length of time and
advocate to increase the length of time to match the starting
time at which federal and state legislative candidates are
able to begin circulating a petition for signatures in-lieu of
paying a filing fee. In doing so, county central committee
candidates would be able to begin collecting signatures on
their nomination papers on the 158th day prior to the election
until the 88th day prior to the election, instead of the
current timeframe which begins on the 113th day prior the
election and runs until the 88th day prior to the election.
6)Suggested Amendments : Recent amendments added to this bill
made two changes to current law. The first change allows each
county central committee to establish the length of time that
a candidate for central committee must have been registered
with the party and the length of time a candidate for a
central committee must not have been affiliated with another
qualified political party in order to run for that party's
central committee. The second change, which is mentioned
above, lengthens the timeframe for county central committee
candidates to collect signatures for their nomination papers -
allowing county central committee candidates to begin
collecting signatures on the 158th day prior to the election,
instead of the 113th day prior to the election. These two
amendments, which add new administrative challenges to county
elections officials, were requested by one of the political
parties. That political party requested those amendments to
mitigate the effects of another amendment that they
anticipated would be added to this bill. That amendment would
have eliminated the option for a county central committee to
require the elections official to print the office and county
central committee candidate names on the ballot when the
number of candidates does not exceed the number of seats
available, in order to allow for write-in candidates.
However, the elimination of the write-in piece was not
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included in the most recent amendments. In order to achieve
the original goal of providing county elections officials with
the highest level of fiscal relief and mitigating the effects
of the elimination of the write-in option on county central
committees, committee staff recommends amending the bill to
either: 1) add the elimination of the write-in option for
county central committees, as described above, or 2) eliminate
the two accommodations that were added to the bill previously.
7)Arguments in Support : The California State Association of
Counties writes in support:
First, under the new top two primary system, the only
partisan races remaining on the ballot are for U.S.
President and for central committee members. Therefore, in
years of gubernatorial elections, with no presidential
contest, central committees would be the sole partisan
contests, and would force major cost increases associated
with preparing and printing partisan ballots.
Second, central committee candidates constitute a
disproportionately large percentage of the candidates to
whom election officials must provide service. In most
counties, they constitute at least half of candidates, and
in several counties they are about two-thirds of the total.
Many central committee contests do not end up on the
ballot because the number of candidates is fewer than the
number of available spots. However, the central committees
still have the option of forcing the question on the
ballot, requiring the space for listing the candidates and
a number of write-in spaces.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Republican Party Chairmen's Association
California State Association of Counties
Contra Costa County Clerk
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
Santa Cruz Clerk/Elections
Secretary of State Debra Bowen
Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
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Opposition
Peace and Freedom Party of California
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094