Recall elections.

Existing law authorizes a registered voter of an electoral jurisdiction to seek the recall of an officer of that jurisdiction by publishing or posting a notice of intention to circulate a recall petition. Existing law requires the notice of intention to contain, among other things, a statement of the reasons for the proposed recall and the signatures of a specified number of proponents of the recall. Under existing law, within 7 days of the filing of the notice of intention, the officer sought to be recalled may file an answer to the proponents' statement of reasons for the recall. Existing law requires a recall petition to include, among other things, the notice of intention and the officer's answer. This bill would increase the number of signatures required to be included in the notice of intention, with the total number of necessary signatures determined by the type of office held by the officer sought to be recalled, as provided. The bill would require, for a recall of a member of the governing board of a school district, the recall petition to include an estimate of the cost of conducting the special election. The bill would require, for a recall of a local officer, the county elections official to make a copy of the recall petition available for public examination for 10 days, as provided. The bill would authorize a voter of the applicable electoral jurisdiction or the elections official, during those 10 days, to seek a writ of mandate or injunction requiring any or all of the statement of the proponents or the answer of the officer to be amended or deleted. The bill would require a court to issue a writ of mandate or injunction only upon clear and convincing proof that the material in question is false, misleading, or inconsistent with the applicable requirements for recall petitions. By requiring local elections officials to make recall petitions available for public inspection, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the governing board of a local government entity to issue an order calling an election if the elections official certifies to the board that the recall proponents gathered sufficient signatures to hold a recall election for an officer of the local government entity. Existing law requires the election to be held not less than 88 days and not more than 125 days from the issuance of the order. This bill would permit the election to be consolidated with a regularly scheduled election conducted within 180 days after the issuance of the order. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11041 of the Elections Code proposed by AB 2582 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2582 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. 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.