Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee

00:07 - 00:24

Speaker 1

Measures on our agenda today before we hear presentations on the bill. What we will start as a subcommittee given that we do not have quorum at the moment. So our first item up, is a b five ninety six by assembly member Ortega. Please begin when you are ready.

00:28 - 03:00

Speaker 2

Thank you, madam chair, for the opportunity to present a b five nine six today. A b five nine six will allow voters to make more informed decisions and understand which entities have paid to put a proposition on the ballot. This bill is a narrowly tailored and carefully crafted version of a b eleven eighty eight. I worked extensively extensively with clean money and leadership of both houses to draft good policy that we could all agree on. Originally designed to empower citizens against powerful interests, the initiative and re referendum process has been co opted by corporations that spent hundreds of millions to manipulate voters and obscure their true agendas.

During the twenty twenty four election, interest groups spent nearly $400,000,000 on 10 statewide propositions. That number will only continue to grow in the future elections. I've heard concerns that this bill will politicize the ballot. However, the ballot process is already heavily politicized. Special interests tailor every word of a proposition to meet their needs.

This bill simply lets voters know which groups have funded a proposition. We've also heard some questions about ballot length and cost. The bill allows the secretary of state to abbreviate words and to reduce the font size to save paper and reduce cost. The bill requires that the top funders be disclosed, not the committees, so as to prevent any organization from manipulating voters with false names. California expects their ballot to provide the basic information they need to make decisions.

For decades, we have known that who we have known who is funding a campaign is important information for voters to have. That's why the state has required that all campaigns list their top funders prominently on every piece of paid mail. This bill simply puts that information on the ballot too. With me, testifying in support today are Trent Lynch, the president of executive director of California Clean Money Campaign. Also with me is Ivan Fernandez with the California California Federation of Labor Unions.

03:00 - 03:05

Speaker 1

Thank you. Your two lead witnesses can begin. Good

03:07 - 04:34

Speaker 3

morning, madam chair and members of the committee. Yvonne Fernandez, California Federation of Labor Unions, sponsor of a b five nine six, a bill to increase voter awareness and election transparency. As stated by the assembly member, corporate interests have recently used the initiative and referendum process as their method of bypassing the legislature to fund signature gathering and media campaigns via an endless source of corporate dollars. The initiative and referendum process was established all the way back in the nineteen hundreds as a check on powerful corporate interests, specifically the railroad companies. Today, however, and unfortunately, we've come full circle as billionaires and multibillion dollar corporations funnel money to block, rewrite, and undermine the laws that this democratically elected legislature has passed.

In tandem with massive media campaigns ranging from social media videos to TV ads to mailers, true grassroots organizing is hampered. These initiatives pose an existential threat to workers' rights, but also in the ability for the state and local governments to increase revenues to address the state's most pressing issues. As we face this threat, transparency is our best tool to educate voters. Grassroot movements cannot simp simply cannot outspend the flood of corporate money used to back education and media campaigns. So a b five nine six is very simple.

It adds that critical information of who is in fact bankrolling the qualification of these initiatives and referendums on the ballot itself. As everyday working Californians are blitzed by a flurry of paid ads, a b five nine six cuts through the mirage of corporate backed campaigns. And for these reasons, I urge your I vote at the appropriate time. Thank you.

04:37 - 05:14

Speaker 4

Good morning, madam chair and members. Trent Lang, president of the California Clean Money Campaign, speaking in strong support of a b five ninety six. We'd like to thank the author and the sponsors for working very closely with us on the language of the bill and really appreciate their leadership. We sponsored the California Disclose Act bills to require clear disclosure of the top funders of ballot measure ads and initiative petitions, proudly working with, with authors on this committee. But voters still want and need to know who spends the millions of dollars to qualify ballot measures, yet most don't have the time to hunt that information down online when they vote.

05:14 - 06:52

Speaker 4

AB five ninety six solves that problem by adding top funders a petition to qualify the ballot measure to the ballot label so every voter sees who paid to put the measure there. The analysis does raise important questions, about practicality. I'm happy to report they were able to significantly address them in the bill. First, a b five ninety six directs the secretary of state to shorten contributor names and specified names, abbreviating and removing unnecessary words, for example. For example, PG and E Corporation and Affiliated Entities becomes just PG and E.

California Labor Federation AFL CIO becomes just CA Labor Fed. All should be perfectly clear to voters but much much shorter. Our analysis of recent initiative contributors shows these rules shorten long names by over half. So a b five ninety six will typically add about a 125 characters on average, which is comparable to the existing 125 characters shown on the ballot labels individually for supporters and opponents. Second, a b five ninety six significantly reduces the gains that top contributors can pay to avoid disclosure by directing the secretary of state to use the DISCLOSE Act rules for calculating them.

Most importantly, the DISCLOSE Act requires that when contributors donate to a specifically identified ballot measure that those contributions are considered to be earmarked and must be shown no matter how many layers of front groups they go through. With these protections, a b five ninety six will show every voter this crucial information they need to make better decisions while using as little additional space as possible. So we respectfully request your I vote.

06:52 - 06:55

Speaker 1

Do we have any other support witnesses that would like to approach?

06:59 - 07:05

Speaker 4

Thank you, madam chair members. Mitch Steiger with CFT, a union of educators and classified professionals also in support.

07:08 - 07:29

Speaker 1

Seeing no additional individuals wishing to speak in support, do we have any opposition lead witnesses? Please approach. Please begin when you're ready.

07:34 - 09:35

Speaker 5

Thank you. Good morning, senators. Alexis Rodriguez with the California Chamber of Commerce here testifying in respectful opposition to a b five nine six. This bill would require the top three contributors of more than, thank you, of more than a $100,000 to campaign committees seeking to qualify for an initiative or referendum on the ballot to be listed on the ballot. Cal Chamber reads a b five ninety six is too similar to a b eleven eighty eight Ortega, which was held on the assembly suspense file earlier this year for significant costs to the state.

AB eleven eighty eight was estimated to increase of a million of millions of dollars per election, and those would be increased for larger counties. While we support a transparent electoral electoral process, we believe that a b five ninety six negatively will impact the integrity and efficiency of that process. While intended to promote transparency, the provisions in a b five ninety six may mislead voters rather than inform them. Because ballots are printed well in advance of the election, this information presented would be outdated or could potentially be outdated. Voters may see an incomplete or potential, inaccurate snapshot of who's truly supporting these measures.

By including detailed contributor information, a b five ninety six would significantly lengthen the ballot by directly by directing attention away from the policy of the measure. Research from the center of the civic design shows that voters confronted with long and confusing ballots were more likely to skip these questions entirely, and this undermines voter participation and understanding directly counteract counteracting the bill's intended goals. In recent years, there have been significant reform as it relates to signature gathering. AB five ninety six would result in a fundamental change of the ballot process. And from our perspective, this type of reform should not be rushed.

For these reasons, we respectfully urge a no vote. Thank you.

09:35 - 09:51

Speaker 1

Thank you. Is there anyone else in the committee room wishing to state the opposition? Seeing none, I will bring it back to committee members. Oh, one moment if we could have the secretary of state office approach, please.

09:51 - 09:52

Speaker 6

Thank

09:54 - 10:35

Speaker 7

you, madam chair. We are not in opposition. Tim Cromartie on behalf of secretary of state Shirley and Weber. We do, however, have concerns about this measure. The broad objectives appear to be very good ones because it will clearly advance transparency and help educate voters.

However, we were just alerted of the amendments to this bill at 09:00 last night. We have not had sufficient time to begin to analyze it, and we know that we will have costs associated with it. We wanna highlight that as well as, just note the fact that we learned about this, from the Republican caucus. Thank you.

10:41 - 11:20

Speaker 1

Seeing no others, wishing to come forward, I will just take a moment to thank the sponsors of the bill today and the author for really finding common ground. I know there was a lot of things that that had to get worked out. And finding an agreement, right, was important to increase transparency to voters. With that, I do support the measure, and we will have to wait for additional committee members to arrive. But thank you so much for presenting.

And, madam author, assembly member Oftega, would you like to offer a closing?

11:21 - 11:25

Speaker 2

I respectfully ask and I vote, I vote at the appropriate time.

12:03 - 12:30

Speaker 1

This committee stands in recess. Before we begin with our last item on file, we will establish a quorum. Secretary, please call the roll.

12:31 - 12:33

Speaker 6

Senator Cervantes?

12:33 - 12:33

Speaker 1

Here.

12:33 - 12:34

Speaker 6

Cervantes here. Choi?

12:34 - 12:35

Speaker 4

Here.

12:35 - 12:39

Speaker 6

Choi here. Allen? Here. Allen here. Limon Umburg?

12:43 - 12:51

Speaker 1

We have a quorum. I will pass it on to our vice chair of the committee while I step down and present this committee bill.

12:58 - 13:11

Speaker 8

So that'll be second one. Yes. Now file number two s p 852 would be presented by, chair Cervantes. When you're ready, you can go ahead.

13:12 - 13:39

Speaker 1

Thank you, mister chair. I am here to present s b eight fifty two, which is our committee bill that makes noncontroversial but important changes to state law. Among the bill's changes is a prohibition on accepting a campaign contribution in a legislative district office or in a local government office. The bill's other provisions are more technical in nature and respectfully ask for an I vote.

13:40 - 14:15

Speaker 8

Okay. Any witnesses or anyone? Okay. You can come over. Any any anyone would like to, in the public, make a support statement?

Any opposition witnesses? Any opposition person or organization to oppose this? Okay. If not, then I'll bring back to members. Any opinions, questions?

Thank you. Okay. Your bill has been moved. Would you like to close?

14:15 - 14:16

Speaker 1

Respectfully, I ask for a nay vote.

14:16 - 14:19

Speaker 8

Okay. Clerk, will you please, call the roll?

14:20 - 14:30

Speaker 6

Motion is that the assembly amendments be concurred in. Senator Cervantes? Aye. Cervantes aye. Choi?

Aye. Choi aye. Allen? Aye. Allen aye.

Limon? Umberg?

14:45 - 14:54

Speaker 8

No. We'll we'll put I'm putting the on call. Okay, Jen. You can take over now.

14:54 - 15:08

Speaker 1

Thank you. Doctor Choi, we'll go ahead and open the roll on the first item, a b five ninety six, and allow members to add on. Do I have a motion? I'll

15:11 - 15:13

Speaker 4

move item one. Motion

15:15 - 15:25

Speaker 6

is due passed to the committee on appropriations. Senator Cervantes? Aye. Cervantes? Aye.

Aye. Choi? No. I know. Allen?

Aye. Allen, aye. Limon? Aye. Limon, aye.

Hamburg?

15:29 - 15:33

Speaker 1

Three one that Bill is on call, let us open the roll on s B852.