BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1272|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1272
Author: Kehoe (D)
Amended: 8/6/12
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
SENATE FLOOR : 30-4, 5/17/12
AYES: Alquist, Berryhill, Blakeslee, Calderon, Cannella,
Corbett, Correa, De Le�n, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Evans,
Fuller, Gaines, Harman, Hernandez, Kehoe, La Malfa, Leno,
Liu, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Pavley, Price,
Rubio, Steinberg, Vargas, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Dutton, Simitian, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock, Huff, Lieu, Runner, Strickland,
Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/27/12 - See last page for vote
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
CONTINUED
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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.
Assembly Amendments (1) require nomination documents to be
available to candidates for membership on a county central
committee beginning on the 158th day, rather than the 113th
day, prior to the primary election, (2) delete the option
for one of these parties' central committees, if the number
of its candidates does not exceed the number of offices
available, to require elections officials to nevertheless
print the names of all candidates on the ballot in order to
allow for write-in candidates, and (3) make the bill's
provisions severable.
ANALYSIS :
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
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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 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.
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
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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.
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/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.
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
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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
"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
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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 8/15/12)
Secretary of State
Alpine County Clerk
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 County Clerk/Elections
Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters
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.
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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
fiscal relief to cash strapped local governments is timely
and necessary.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/27/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani,
Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell,
Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Pan
DLW:k 8/28/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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