BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1752|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1752
Author: Fong (D)
Amended: 5/13/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTIT. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/24/14
AYES: Padilla, Anderson, Hancock, Jackson, Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/19/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Redistricting: incumbent designation
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes the portion of a new district that is
represented by an elected official a more important factor than
district number when determining which candidate is considered
the "incumbent" after redistricting in an election for the
United States Congress, California Legislature, or Board of
Equalization (BOE).
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides in the first election for Representative in
Congress, State Senator, Assemblymember, and Member of the
BOE following the adjustment of boundaries of districts, the
candidate who is considered the incumbent in the race shall
be based on the following:
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AB 1752
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A. If a candidate is running for the same office which
he/she holds, and is running for reelection in a
district that has the identical boundaries and number as
the district from which he/she was last elected, that
person is deemed to be the incumbent;
B. If there is no candidate for which (A) applies, but
there is a candidate running for the same office which
he/she holds, and is running for reelection in a
district that has the identical boundaries as the
district from which he/she was last elected, but which
has a different number, that person is deemed to be the
incumbent;
C. If there is no candidate for which (A) or (B)
applies, but there is a candidate running for the same
office which he/she holds, and who is running for
reelection in a district that has the identical number
as the district from which he/she was last elected, that
person is deemed to be the incumbent; provided, however,
that a candidate for Assembly is considered the
incumbent in this case only if the district bearing the
same number is located in the same county as the
district which previously bore that number;
D. If there is no candidate for which (A), (B), or (C)
applies, but there is a candidate running for the same
office that he/she then holds, and who is running for
reelection in a district that contains some portion of
the territory previously contained within the district
from which he/she was last elected, that person is
deemed to be the incumbent; provided, however, that in a
new district that contains portions of the territory of
more than one former district, the incumbent is the
candidate whose former district includes the largest
portion of the territory of the new district; and,
E. If there is no candidate for which (A), (B), (C), or
(D) applies, any candidate for the same office that
he/she then holds and who fulfills the residential
requirements of law for candidacy within the district is
considered the incumbent.
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AB 1752
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2. Establishes the Citizens Redistricting Commission (CRC), and
gives it the responsibility for establishing the district
lines for State Senate, Assembly, Congress, and the BOE.
This bill:
1. Provides in the first election for Representative in
Congress, State Senator, Assemblymember, or Member of the BOE
following the adjustment of boundaries of districts, if more
than one sitting member of a governmental body is running for
election in a new district, the candidate who is considered
the "incumbent" in the new district is the candidate whose
district has the largest portion of the population, as
determined by the most recent federal decennial census,
instead of the candidate who is running in a district bearing
the same number as the district represented by the candidate,
if any.
2. Makes conforming changes to reflect that the CRC, rather than
the Legislature, is responsible for adjusting the boundaries
of Congressional, Legislative, and BOE districts following
the federal decennial census.
3. Makes corresponding and technical changes.
Background
Every ten years, following the completion of the Census, the
boundary lines of Legislative, Congressional, and the BOE
districts are required to be adjusted so that all the districts
for the same office have approximately equal populations.
When district boundaries are adjusted, it is possible that more
than one sitting member of a house of the Legislature, of
Congress, or of the BOE, may end up in the same district. In
recognition of the potential for such a situation, state law
contains a method for determining which candidate is considered
the incumbent when two or more sitting members are running
against each other following the adjustment of boundary lines.
Under that method, if both sitting members represent a portion
of the new district in which they are running, the member who is
running for the district with the same district number is
considered the incumbent, and is able to use the ballot
designation of "Incumbent."
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When the Legislature was responsible for drawing new district
lines, it typically numbered districts in a manner that was
designed to promote continuity in district numbers, so the
practical effect was that the person who represented a larger
portion of the new district was considered the incumbent. But
when the CRC numbered districts, it did so in a manner that much
more strictly followed the geographic placement of the
districts.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/19/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Olsen, Pan,
Perea, John A. P�rez, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva,
Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada,
Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gordon, Mansoor, Nazarian, Nestande,
Patterson, Vacancy
RM:d 6/26/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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