Elections and Reapportionment

Political Reform
Elections
Reapportionment

Political Reform

SB 467 (Johnson-R) Contributions

Allows an elected state officer who is serving his/her last permitted term of office to accept contributions after the date of the election to the office presently held for the purpose of paying expenses associated with holding office, or for any other purpose authorized by law.

(Failed passage in Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee; reconsideration granted)

A similar bill, AB 890 (Wesson-D) is in the Senate Rules Committee.

SB 548 (Burton-D) Conflicts of interest

Modifies the Quentin L. Kopp Conflict of Interest Act of 1991 contribution limit provision from $250 to $1,000.

(In Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee)

SB 604* (Perata-D) Political Reform Act of 1974

Makes several revisions to the Political Reform Act concerning methods for filing of various documents, redefining cumulative contributions, and removing references to the June primary and November general elections and replacing them with more general references to state primary and state general elections to reflect current practices. Redefines the rules regarding the mailing of slate mailers by the mailer organizations and committees supporting or opposing a ballot measure.

(On Assembly Third Reading File)

SB 1072* (Burton-D) Contributions

Defines "late contribution" to include contributions received by a political party committee, as specified.

(Failed passage on the Assembly Floor)

SCA 14 (Vasconcellos-D) Political reform

Establishes the Fair Political Practices Commission by constitutional provision.

(In Senate Rules Committee)

AB 1197 (Wiggins-D) Conflicts of interest

Makes further definition of "designated employee" in the Political Reform Act as any board member, chief business officer, superintendent and assistant superintendent of a public school district or county office of education, and any person having governance or management responsibility in a charter school.

(Failed passage on the Senate Floor; on Senate Third Reading File)

AB 1501* (Levine-D) Political Reform Act of 1974

Allows a candidate, until the deadline for filing nomination papers to change his/her statement of acceptance or rejection of voluntary expenditure limits, provided he/she has not exceeded the voluntary expenditure limits. Prohibits a candidate from changing his/her statement more than twice after the initial filing of the nomination papers.

(On Assembly Unfinished Business File)

AB 1623 (Longville-D) Political Reform Act of 1974: Freedom Drafts

Allows individuals to make political contributions through Freedom Drafts to political candidates of their choice to be funded through the State Treasury.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 1678 (Negrete McLeod-D) Conflicts of interest

Extends to local public officials the prohibition on making, or using one's official position to influence, any governmental decision directly relating to any person with whom the public official is negotiating prospective employment.

Chapter 778, Statutes of 2003

Elections

SB 116 (Dunn-D) Mobilehome parks: political signs

Allows mobilehome owners to display campaign signs during a time period from 90 days before an election to 15 days following the election in a mobilehome park.

Chapter 249, Statutes of 2003

SB 152 (Oller-R) Candidates

Prohibits a candidate who loses a partisan primary election from registering and becoming a write-in candidate for that same office in the ensuing general election, unless the winning party nominee dies not later than the 14th day prior to the date of the election.

(Failed passage in Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

SB 240 (McPherson-R) Overseas absentee voting

Allows California to participate in a pilot program for Internet voting known as the Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment operated by the federal Department of Defense.

(In Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

SB 430 (Johnson-R) Statewide primary election

Requires that the statewide direct primary election be held on the Tuesday in June of each numbered year. Keeps the presidential primary in March. Sunsets January 1, 2005.

(On Assembly Third Reading File)

SB 448 (Poochigian-R) Voter registration cards

Requires the State Franchise Tax Board to include a voter registration card with the personal income tax filing forms that are mailed annually to California taxpayers.

Chapter 412, Statutes of 2003

SB 539 (Perata-D) Elections: county initiatives

Requires the circulation of a county initiative petition to declare that he/she is a voter of the county or is qualified to register to vote in that county.

(In Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

SB 610 (Escutia-D) Elections: poll workers

Revises the law concerning the appointment of students to precinct boards by increasing the number from two to five percent and specifies that a precinct board member must be a voter of the state. Requires that Secretary of State to appoint a task force of 12 members to recommend procedures for the training of poll workers.

Chapter 530, Statutes of 2003

SB 613 (Perata-D) Help America Vote Act of 2002

Ensures that California is in compliance with the Federal Help America Vote Act of 2002. Requires precinct boards to post instruction cards in and around polling places and requires an expanded set of specified materials in each polling place the day of election.

Chapter 809, Statutes of 2003

SB 641* (Brulte-R) Elections: telephone advocacy

Prohibits expenditures for telephone advocacy calls unless the name of the entity that is paying for the call is disclosed during the call.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

SB 724 (Scott-D) Candidates: campaign practices

Requires the Secretary of State and local elections officials to post on their Internet web site, the names of candidates who have voluntarily subscribed to the Code of Fair Campaign Practices, as specified.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

SB 850 (Burton-D) General election ballot vacancy

In the case of a legislative office, permits a vacancy on the general election ballot caused by the death or disqualification of the nominee to be filled by appointment by the Speaker of the Assembly or the Minority Leader, as specified, or by the President pro Tempore of the Senate or the Minority Leader of the Senate, as specified. Permits the applicable county central committee to fill the vacancy by procedure. Requires the elections official, in addition, to ascertain if a candidate is unqualified to seek an office a certain number of days before the ensuing general election.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

SB 1024 (Senate Elections And Reapportionment Committee) Elections

Makes various revisions to the Elections Code concerning the filling of a vacancy in the governing board of a school district, recall notice of intention, requiring the nomination for the office of director of a resource conservation district be filed with the county election official, instead of the clerk of the board of supervisors of the principal county and provides that a circulator of a nomination paper must be qualified to vote for the elective office of the city for which the nomination is made and requires that only one person circulate each nomination paper.

Chapter 811, Statutes of 2003

SCA 6 (Battin-R) Public Utilities Commission: election: members

Requires the State Public Utilities Commission commissioners to be elected rather than appointed, increases the number of commissioners from five to seven, and requires the state to be divided into seven districts.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

SCA 14 (Vasconcellos-D) Elections

Among other provisions, allows a vote for none of the above and have his/her vote counted, provides for an open primary, and revises the reapportionment process.

(In Senate Rules Committee)

AB 177 (Oropeza-D) Voter Bill of Rights

Establishes a Voter Bill of Rights enumerating the rights of voters as established under existing law and requires voters to be informed of the Voter Bill of Rights and states that all voters must be citizens of the United States.

Chapter 425, Statutes of 2003

AB 188 (Maze-R) Absentee voting

Provides that special absentee voters and overseas voters are permanent absentee voters and that the county elections official shall mail a ballot to all such voters as soon as possible on or after the 60th day prior to the election.

Chapter 347, Statutes of 2003

AB 190 (Levine-D) Provisional ballots

Provides that if a voter casts a provisional ballot that contains candidates or measures on which the voter would not have been entitled to vote in his/her assigned precinct, the elections official is to count the votes for the candidates and measures on which the voter was entitled to vote in his/her assigned precinct.

Chapter 808, Statutes of 2003

AB 247 (Cox-R) Elections: voting identification

Requires a voter to present proof of his/her identity and residency before receiving a ballot.

(Failed passage in the Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 255 (Jerome Horton-D) Elections: local government seals

Prohibits the use of a local government agency official seal in campaign literature or mass mailings with the intent to deceive the voters. Makes it a misdemeanor.

Chapter 380, Statutes of 2003

AB 277 (Dutra-D) Political cyberfraud

Allows a court to consider an individual's intent to mislead, deceive, or defraud voters in determining whether the individual engaged in a bad faith registration of a domain name on the Internet. Prohibits a person from engaging in political cyberfraud in relation to a web site relating to a ballot measure.

Chapter 277, Statutes of 2003

AB 346 (Longville-D) Election contests

Provides that an election may be contested if eligible voters were denied the right to vote, as specified.

Chapter 173, Statutes of 2003

AB 461 (Longville-D) Provisional voting

Provides that state law governing provisional voting shall be construed liberally in favor of the provisional voter.

Chapter 175, Statutes of 2003

AB 526 (Chan-D) Voter registration

Allows Alameda County to establish a pilot program for elections under which a person could register and vote at specified locations during a 14-day period up to and including election day and which are not consolidated with a state or judicial election.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 587 (Ridley-Thomas-D) Voter registration

Requires voter registration cards to include a space where the voter may state his/her race, ethnicity, or both, as specified.

Chapter 385, Statutes of 2003

AB 593 (Ridley-Thomas-D) Voter registration

Requires the Secretary of State to provide every high school, community college, California State University, and University of California campus with voter registration forms. Eliminates the requirement that permanent absentee voters who choose not to vote in a primary election be removed from the permanent absentee voter rolls. Requires the State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to provide the Secretary of State's office with digitized signatures for every person who registers to vote on the voter registration card provided by the DMV.

Chapter 819, Statutes of 2003

AB 603 (Garcia-R) Electioneering

Defines electioneering on behalf of a candidate, ballot question, or political party and is prohibited within 100 feet of a polling place.

(In Assembly Appropriations Committee)

AB 622 (Hancock-D) Preelection procedures

Specifies that if a polling place has been relocated from the site used in the previous election, the elections official has to post.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 714 (Leno-D) Elections: polling places

Requires each polling place to have at least one voting machine that is fully accessible to mobility impaired voters by January 1, 2006.

(In Senate Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 718 (Pacheco-R) Municipal elections

Makes numerous substantive and technical changes to state law governing municipal elections including creating established mailed ballot election dates.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 828 (Leno-D) Election day procedures

Requires elections officials to establish and implement alternative voting procedures for use when an electronic voting system fails or when the elections official is unable to provide a ballot to all eligible voters on election day.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 884 (Diaz-D) Redistricting: maps

Requires that legislative redistricting maps be prepared no later than 75 days rather than 90 days following the enactment of the redistricting plan.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 892 (Dymally-D) Residence of elected officials

Extends a conclusive presumption regarding the residence of a state legislator or member of Congress to all candidates in any state, local or congressional race.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 915 (Dutra-D) Elections: polling places

Prohibits a person from photographing, videotaping, or otherwise recording a voter entering or exiting a polling place within 100 feet of a polling place, with the intent of dissuading another person from voting.

Chapter 390, Statutes of 2003

AB 1039 (Hancock-D) Municipal elections: voting methods

Provides that a city may elect officers or fill vacancies in elective offices by means of a method of cumulative voting, limited voting, choice voting, or instant runoff voting, as specified.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 1245 (Laird-D) Initiatives: web site posting

Requires the Attorney General, before preparing a title and summary for an initiative measure, to forward the proponents draft to the Secretary of State. States that the draft measure will be on the Secretary of State's web site for a period of 30 days, during which the public is allowed to post comments concerning the measure.

Vetoed by the Governor

AB 1430 (Shirley Horton-R) Election workers: unemployment insurance

Increases the amount of calendar year earnings that a election poll worker may reasonably expect to earn in order to be exempt from unemployment insurance benefits from $200 to $1000.

Chapter 183, Statutes of 2003

AB 1472 (Goldberg-D) Election days: public schools

Specifies ways in which school governing boards may comply with existing law that provides for the governing boards to make school buildings available for use as polling places.

Chapter 219, Statutes of 2003

AB 1521 (Parra-D) Municipal elections

Allows a city to hold its general municipal election on any established election date and create established mailed ballot election dates as the only dates on which such election may be held.

Chapter 824, Statutes of 2003

AB 1531 (Longville-D) Recall election expenses

Requires the state to pay expenses incurred by local elections officials in the preparation for and conduct of the October 7, 2003, special recall election to recall Gray Davis.

(In Senate Rules Committee)

AB 1544 (Simitian-D) Elections: all-mail

Allows cities with a population less than 100,000, school districts, and special districts to hold all-mail elections in order to fill a vacancy on the legislative or governing body.

Chapter 401, Statutes of 2003

AB 1608 (Liu-D) Voting age

Allows an individual that is 17 years old and will be 18 years old by the date of the next general election to register to vote in any intervening primary or special election.

(In Assembly Elections and Reapportionment Committee)

AB 1677 (Assembly Elections, Redistricting And Constitutional Amendments Committee) Absent voter ballots

Revises the time limit for individuals, organizations or groups to return completed absentee ballot applications from 36 to 72 hours after receiving the completed form, or before the deadline for application, whichever is sooner.

Chapter 119, Statutes of 2003

AB 1679 (Assembly Elections, Redistricting And Constitutional Amendments Committee) Elections: procedures

Repeals and updates various provisions of law relating to the Democratic Party's presidential delegate selection procedures and makes other technical corrections and clarifications to election procedures.

Chapter 810, Statutes of 2003

AB 1680 (Strickland-R) Elections: Republican Party

Requires the Chairperson of the Republican State Central Committee to indicate the apparent nominees for President and Vice President to the Secretary of State if the Republican National Convention will conclude after the deadline for the Secretary of State to deliver certificates of nomination to local elections officials.

Chapter 868, Statutes of 2003

A similar bill, SB 530 (Johnson-R) is on the Assembly Third Reading File.

AB 1687 (Longville-D) Elections

Allows the Secretary of State to investigate and make a determination that elections within a voting jurisdiction have been conducted inefficiently or illegally and will irreparably or imminently fail.

(In Senate Appropriations Committee)

AB 1689 (Levine-D) Elections: voter registration

Repeals the requirement that a provisional voter who has moved from one precinct to another within the same county show proof of residency prior to casting a provisional ballot.

Chapter 364, Statutes of 2003

ACA 19 (Lowenthal-D) Redistricting commission

Creates a five member independent redistricting commission and requires each of the 40 districts be divided into two Assembly districts.

(At Assembly Desk)

ACA 20 (Ridley-Thomas-D) Recall

Revises procedures of the recall by conferring the responsibility upon the Chief

Justice of California. No other measures may be submitted to the voters if the election is called as a special recall election. Provides that there would be no election of a successor at an election to determine the recall of the Governor, and, if the recall receives a majority of votes, that the Lieutenant Governor would replace the Governor.

(From printer)

AJR 7 (Longville-D) Candidates for elective office

Requests the federal government to adopt policies that provide for increased coverage of political issues leading up to elections.

Resolution Chapter 154, Statutes of 2003

HR 36 (Ridley-Thomas-D) Voting Rights Act of 1965

Recognizes the 38th anniversary of the Enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

(In Assembly Rules Committee)

Reapportionment

Every ten years, the Legislature is required, by the Constitution, to redraw Senate, Assembly, Congressional and State Board of Equalization districts to reflect the population count done by the census.

Index (in Bill Order)