California Assembly Bill AB2045 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2045INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Harper FEBRUARY 17, 2016 An act to amend Section 9030 of the Elections Code, relating to initiatives. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2045, as introduced, Harper. Initiative petitions. The California Constitution authorizes an initiative measure to be proposed by presenting to the Secretary of State a petition of the proposed statute or constitutional amendment that is certified to have been signed by a certain percentage of electors. Existing law requires each section of a petition to be filed with the elections official of the county or city and county in which the petition was circulated and requires the elections officials to determine the total number of signatures affixed to the petition and transmit that information to the Secretary of State. This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the latter provision. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 9030 of the Elections Code, as amended by Section 9 of Chapter 697 of the Statutes of 2014, is amended to read: 9030. (a) Each section of the petition shall be filed with the elections official of the county or city and county in which it was circulated, but all sections circulated in  any   a  county or city and county shall be filed at the same time. Once filed,  no   a  petition section shall  not  be amended except by order of a court of competent jurisdiction. (b) Within eight days after the filing of the petition, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, the elections official shall determine the total number of signatures affixed to the petition and shall transmit this information to the Secretary of State. If the total number of signatures filed with all elections officials is less than 100 percent of the number of qualified voters required to find the petition sufficient, the Secretary of State shall so notify the proponents and the elections officials, and no further action shall be taken with regard to the petition. (c) If the number of signatures filed with all elections officials is 100 percent or more of the number of qualified voters needed to declare the petition sufficient, the Secretary of State shall immediately so notify the elections officials. (d) Within 30 days after  this notification,   a notification under subdivision (c),  excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, the elections official shall determine the number of qualified voters who have signed the petition. If more than 500 names have been signed on sections of the petition filed with an elections official, the elections official shall use a random sampling technique for verification of signatures, as determined by the Secretary of State. The random sample of signatures to be verified shall be drawn in such a manner that every signature filed with the elections official shall be given an equal opportunity to be included in the sample. The random sampling shall include an examination of at least 500 or 3 percent of the signatures, whichever is greater. In determining from the records of registration what number of qualified voters have signed the petition, the elections official may use the duplicate file of affidavits of registered voters or the facsimiles of voters' signatures,  provided that   if  the method of preparing and displaying the facsimiles complies with law. (e) The elections official, upon  the completion of   completing  the examination, shall immediately attach to the petition, except the signatures  thereto appended,   appended to the petition,  a properly dated certificate, showing the result of the examination, and shall immediately transmit the petition and the certificate to the Secretary of State. A copy of  this   the  certificate shall be filed in the elections official's office. (f) If the certificates received from all elections officials by the Secretary of State establish that the number of valid signatures does not equal 95 percent of the number of qualified voters needed to find the petition sufficient, the petition shall be deemed to have failed to qualify, and the Secretary of State shall immediately so notify the proponents and the elections officials. (g) If the certificates received from all elections officials by the Secretary of State total more than 110 percent of the number of qualified voters needed to find the petition sufficient, the Secretary of State shall certify that the measure is qualified for the ballot as provided in Section 9033.