California Assembly Bill 6 (2009)

California Assembly Bill 6 (AB 6) would require petition drive management companies that hire signature gatherers to qualify state or local initiatives for the ballot to pay an annual fee and register with the California Secretary of State. AB 6 would also require these firms to provide a training program for signature gatherers on state laws regarding the initiative process and submit proof of such training to the secretary of state.

The primary sponsor of AB 6 is Lori Saldana, a member of the state assembly from San Diego. She has introduced several other bills that impose restrictions on the initiative process.

Criticisms of AB 6

Pundit Meredith Turney criticized the motivation behind AB 6. Referring to a legislative hearing about AB 6, Turney wrote:

"The process was labeled “broken,” “abused,” and “fraudulent,” thus requiring more legislative (bureaucratic) oversight. These are all laughable, hypocritical accusations considering several Republican attempts to secure the voting process through photo identification have never made it out of their first committee hearing. With organizations like ACORN still in business, it’s voter registration that’s better described by all the pejoratives heaped on the initiative process."

See also

• Changes in 2009 to laws governing the initiative process

References

---

This California-related article is a stub. You can help people learn about California politics by expanding it.