California Assembly Bill 1535 (2015)
| California Assembly Bill 1535 | |
 | |
| Legislature: | California State Legislature |
| Text: | AB 1535 |
| Sponsor(s): | Elections and Redistricting Committee |
| Legislative history | |
| Introduced: | March 25, 2015 |
| State house: | May 22, 2015 |
| State senate: | September 9, 2015 |
| Governor: | Gov. Jerry Brown (D) |
| Signed: | October 10, 2015 |
| Legal environment | |
| State law: | Initiative, referendum and recall |
| Code: | Elections Code |
| Section: | 103, 3106, 4108, 9602, 10404, 10505 and 11303 |
California Assembly Bill 1535, which concerned removing signatures from petitions, was sponsored by the Elections and Redistricting Committee and introduced on March 25, 2015. It was unanimously approved in the California State Assembly on May 22, 2015. In the California State Senate, the bill was unanimously approved on September 9, 2015. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed the bill into law on October 10, 2015.[1]
Provisions
Assembly Bill 1535 changed the process for removing a signature from an initiative, referendum or recall petition. Prior to the approval of AB 1535, the law allowed a voter who had signed a petition to remove their name from the petition by filing a written request with the county elections office anytime before the petition was officially filed. This law added the requirement that the written request had to include the voter's name, address of residence and signature.[2]
This bill also allowed local government entities to consolidate elections with statewide or other local elections in more cases. It also established the last address of residency in the U.S. as the residence for voter qualification in cases of military or overseas voters.[2]
Legislative digest
The legislative counsel provided the following summary of Assembly Bill 1535:
| “ |
Existing law authorizes a voter who has signed an initiative, referendum, or recall petition to remove his or her name from the petition by filing a written request to do so with the appropriate county elections official prior to the day the petition is filed. This bill would require the written request filed with the elections official to include the voter’s name, residence address, and signature. Existing law sets forth procedures for voting by military or overseas voters, as defined, and permits a military or overseas voter to return his or her ballot by facsimile transmission, accompanied by an oath of voter declaration that includes the voter’s signature. Existing law prescribes the contents of the oath of voter declaration and requires, among other things, the voter to provide his or her current mailing address. The bill would modify the oath of voter declaration form to indicate that the residence address is the last U.S. residence for voter qualification purposes. Existing law permits a district to conduct an election by all-mailed ballots. Existing law also permits political subdivisions to consolidate their elections in certain circumstances. The bill would permit a district conducting an election by all-mailed ballots to consolidate its election with one or more other political subdivisions that are also conducting their elections wholly by mail, if certain conditions are satisfied. Existing law permits the governing body of a special district to consolidate its elections of governing body members in November of odd-numbered years with the statewide general election. The bill would expand that authorization to special district elections of governing body members in any month of odd-numbered years.[3] |
” |
| —California Legislative Counsel[2] | ||
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedOpen - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 California State Legislature, "Assembly Bill No. 1535 (2015)," accessed January 28, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
