BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2550
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Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2550 (Hernandez) - As Amended: April 29, 2014
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:5-2
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires general law cities and some charter cities,
school districts, community college districts, and special
districts to hold their general elections at the same time as
the statewide primary or statewide general election, or on the
first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of odd-numbered
years. This bill also:
1) Prohibits a local election from being conducted on the
same day as a statewide election unless it is consolidated
with the statewide election, and provides that if a county
board of supervisors denies a request for a local election
to be consolidated with the statewide election pursuant to
a provision of existing law, that local election shall be
held on another date in accordance with existing law.
2) Provides that the above applies to elections held on or
after July 1, 2015, and requires a local jurisdiction that
must change the date of its general municipal or general
district elections pursuant to this bill to adopt a new
election date in accordance with this bill not later than
July 1, 2015.
3) Requires each county elections official to mail a notice
to all registered voters in the jurisdiction by August 1,
2015, informing the voters of the change in each election
date, and requires the notice to indicate whether an
incumbent's term of office will be extended as a result of
the change in the election date.
FISCAL EFFECT
AB 2550
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1)The bill would mainly impact 42 general law cities and four
charter cities, with a total of about one million registered
voters. Assuming a cost averaging $1 per voter for each city
to prepare and mail the required notice of the election date
changes, one-time state reimbursable costs would be $1
million.
2)Forty of the impacted general law cities and three of the
impacted charter cities are in LA County. It is assumed that,
due to the limitations of the county's voting system, these
cities will have to move their election to November of
odd-numbered years (See Comment #3), at least until the
county's planned new voting system is operational. Many of
these cities currently conduct their own elections. To the
extent moving all of these elections to the same date would
result in the county conducting the election, costs to the
cities could be more or less depending on how the county's
cost compares to cities current election costs. Any additional
cost could be claimed for state reimbursement. Upon
implementation of the county's new election system, these
cities may choose to consolidate their elections with the
statewide elections, which could result in ongoing savings.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, multiple national
studies over the last three decades affirm that off-cycle
elections draw significantly lower voter turnout,
especially in large urban areas. Many believe that
election timing is the single most important
characteristic in determining voter turnout. By
consolidating elections, AB 2550 will help avoid
'stand-alone' local elections and result in decreased
costs, reduced special interest influence, and increased
voter turnout.
2)Impacts . According to the Assembly Elections Committee
analysis of this bill, given the established election
schedules of various local governments, the bill will
affect few, if any, school districts, community college
districts, or special districts. Regarding general law
cities, of the 361 such cities in California, only 42
were identified that would have to change the date of
their general municipal elections under this bill, and
all but two of these cities are located in LA County.
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In some charter cities, the city charter either is silent
on the issue of when general municipal elections are to
be held, or the charter specifies the general municipal
election shall be held on one of the dates provided for
municipal elections in accordance with the general laws
of the state. Those charter cities may be required to
change the dates of their general municipal elections
under the provisions of this bill. Elections Committee
staff identified four such charter cities, three of which
are in Los Angeles County.
3)LA County . Current law requires all state, county, municipal,
district, and school district elections that are held on a
statewide election date to be consolidated with the statewide
election, except that under a statute enacted in 1985, the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors is allowed to deny a
request for consolidation of an election with the statewide
election if the voting system used by the county cannot
accommodate the additional election. This statute was enacted
because, at the time, the county's voting system could
accommodate only a limited number of contests at each
election, and the county was concerned that the move by cities
to hold their elections at the same time as the statewide
election would exceed the capacity of that voting system.
The county still uses a variant of its 1985-era voting system,
though it is currently in the planning and design stage for
developing and transitioning to a new system, which is
intended to have sufficient capacity to accommodate
consolidation of elections with local districts and
municipalities. The new system is not expected to be available
for use countywide before 2018.
The most recent amendments maintain the board of supervisors'
authority to deny requests to consolidate elections due to the
limitations of its existing voting system. As a practical
matter this would require most general law cities in the
county to hold their general municipal elections in November
of odd-numbered years, at least until the county's new system
is operational.
4)Opposition . City Clerks Association of California are
concerned about potential cost and operational impacts, such
as longer ballot cards and increased voting time resulting in
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longer voting lines.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081