On May 20, the California Assembly Appropriations Committee passed AB 446 by 13-3. It reduces the number of signatures for a new party from 10% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 3%. This sounds like a big improvement, but the petition method for qualifying a new party in California is almost never used. Almost every group instead uses the registration procedure, which requires that the group obtain registered members equal to .33% of the number of registered voters. Therefore the practical impact will probably be limited. Even 3% is almost 400,000 signatures.

The bill also makes it easier for a group to register itself to have its registrants tallied. Currently, the Secretary of State won’t let a group use a party name with new officers; the Secretary of State somewhat unreasonably insists that only the old officers can continue in power. The bill says that if an old political body doesn’t bother to reapply, then a new group, with new officers, can use the name, after waiting two years.

The three “no” votes were cast by these three Republicans: Frank Bigelow, Megan Dahle, and Laurie Davies.