Elections.

(1) Existing law authorizes specified counties, commencing January 1, 2018, and any county except the County of Los Angeles, commencing January 1, 2020, to conduct any election as an all-mailed ballot election if specified conditions are satisfied. The County of Los Angeles is authorized, commencing January 1, 2020, to conduct any election as a vote center election if specified conditions are satisfied. No later than 4 years after conducting its first vote center election, the County of Los Angeles will be authorized to conduct all-mailed ballot elections in the same manner as other counties. Existing law requires that the plan for the administration of an all-mailed ballot election conducted by a county include a voter education and outreach plan approved by the Secretary of State. Existing law requires the Secretary of State, within 6 months of each election conducted by a county as an all-mailed ballot election or vote center election, to report specified information regarding the election to the Legislature. This bill would require the Secretary of State to assist each county conducting an all-mailed ballot election in 2018 in providing additional voter education and community outreach, including, but not limited to, direct contact with voters. The bill would authorize the Secretary of State to provide funding allocated for these purposes to each county. The bill would authorize the Secretary of State to contract with any qualified person or organization for purposes of preparing the report to the Legislature. The bill would appropriate $350,000 from the General Fund to the Secretary of State for these purposes, with $100,000 allocated for the report to the Legislature and $250,000 allocated for assisting counties in providing additional voter education and outreach. (2) The California Constitution enables electors to initiate a recall of state officers by gathering sufficient signatures within a 160-day period. Upon certification by the Secretary of State that this requirement has been met, the California Constitution authorizes the Governor to call a recall election within 60 to 80 days or to consolidate it with a regularly scheduled election that is within 180 days of the certification of the signatures. The California Constitution authorizes the Legislature to provide for recall elections, and existing statutes establish a procedural framework for certifying recall petitions and holding recall elections. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to notify a county elections official that a petition received a sufficient number of signatures to initiate a recall election. After this notice has been provided, existing law provides for a period of 30 business days in which voters who signed the petition may withdraw their signatures. No later than 10 days after that period ends, county elections officials are required to report to the Secretary of State the total number of signatures that were withdrawn, and this process continues until the Secretary of State determines that there is a sufficient number of verified signatures, not including withdrawn signatures, to initiate a recall election. If a sufficient number of verified signatures is ultimately obtained, the Department of Finance, in consultation with affected elections officials and the Secretary of State, is required to estimate the costs of the recall election if it is held as a special election or as part of the next regularly scheduled election. The Secretary of State is prohibited from certifying the sufficiency of the signatures until the Joint Legislative Budget Committee has had 30 days to review and comment on the Department of Finance's estimate of the costs of the recall election. Following that period, the Department of Finance's estimate must be posted on the Secretary of State's Internet Web site, and the Department of Finance is authorized to direct the Controller to remit specified costs of conducting the recall election to affected counties. This bill would repeal and reenact those provisions for a specified reason. This bill would require that the Department of Finance submit its estimate of the costs of the recall election within 30 business days of receipt of the Secretary of State's notice of sufficient signatures to initiate a recall. The bill would also repeal a $5,000,000 appropriation to the Department of Finance for allocation to counties for recall election costs and provisions that allow for the use of random sampling as a method of verifying signatures for a recall petition, thereby requiring the examination and verification of each signature filed. The bill would state various findings and declarations of the Legislature, including the Legislature's intent that specified changes in the Elections Code relating to recall elections apply retroactively. By increasing the duties of local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.