Primary elections: county officers: top two candidates.

The entire amendment to Section 16 of the Elections Code was removed. This provision had required elections officials to provide a copy of Section 84305 of the Government Code (campaign mass mailing prohibitions) to each candidate or their agent at the time of filing a declaration of candidacy, and to proponents of local initiatives or referendums at the time of filing petitions.

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' meaning the bill now requires review by the Legislative Fiscal Committee before passage.

The state-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' formally recognizing that the bill imposes costs on local agencies that may be subject to state reimbursement under the Government Code.

Assembly Member Alvarez was added to the list of coauthors.

In Section 8140(a)(1), the phrase 'secure the highest votes' was changed to 'secure the highest number of votes,' a minor clarifying edit.

The document was reformatted from a printed legislative bill layout (with line numbers, page numbers, and centered headers) to a web page format that includes site navigation, quick search, bill information links, and version history. No changes were made to any statutory text, findings, or policy provisions.

New Section 1300 amendment establishes that district attorney and sheriff elections must be held with the presidential primary, and other county officer elections must be held with the statewide primary (governor nomination), unless a board of supervisors adopts an ordinance to hold them with the presidential primary instead.

The new runoff and timing rules apply to charter counties but explicitly do not apply to charter cities or charter cities and counties, which retain their existing election systems.

State-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' and fiscal committee review changed from 'no' to 'yes,' reflecting the new obligations imposed on county elections officials.

New Section 8140 amendment exempts county nonpartisan offices from the existing rule that a majority vote at the primary elects the candidate. Instead, the top two candidates by vote count advance to a general election runoff. If two or fewer candidates file, no primary occurs and they go directly to the general election ballot.

New Section 10419 requires that any election for a plurality-determined office (with no possibility of a runoff) that is consolidated with a statewide election must be held in the November general election. Incumbent terms are extended until the successor takes office after the new date.

New Section 5 provides for state reimbursement to local agencies if the Commission on State Mandates determines the bill contains costs mandated by the state, pursuant to Government Code Part 7 of Division 4 of Title 2.

New Section 8000 amendment modifies the list of exemptions from the nomination chapter, adding language that city or county charter-provided nomination systems are exempt 'except as otherwise provided in this chapter.'