On September 8, the California legislature passed AB 6, which requires anyone who pays initiative circulators to register with the Secretary of State and pay a fee. The Secretary of State will determine the amount of the fee.

AB 1396, which deregulates the Democratic Party, passed the Senate on September 4 unanimously, but must still pass the Assembly again because the Senate amended it.

Three bills were introduced this year to amend the California Constitution to provide for an indirect initiative. One of those bills still survives and could pass, although it needs a two-thirds vote. It is SCA 16, by Senator Mark DeSaulnier. An indirect initiative provides that after an initiative qualifies, or even if it partially completes its qualfiying petition, the legislature has a chance to amend it. DeSaulnier’s bill provides for this process if the proponents have obtained the signatures of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. Under existing law, statutory initiatives need 5%. Then, after the proponents collect signatures equal to 3%, the legislature can change the proposal and pass it. If the proponents don’t like the changes, they can continue to collect more signatures and the original idea goes on the ballot for a popular vote.

The other two indirect initiative bills, ACA 13 and SCA 10, were put in the suspense file by their own authors earlier.

AB 1121, to let ten non-charter cities or counties use Instant Runoff Voting for their own elections, will get a second vote in the Senate on September 10. Last week it got a 19-19 vote in the State Senate, but the Senate is permitting another vote this week.