CULVER CITY, CA -- Following a year in which more money was
spent on ballot measures than ever in California history,
often on ads that purposefully misled voters, Assembly
Member Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) has joined with
Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) in introducing AB 1416,
the Ballot DISCLOSE Act, to counteract the flood of
money by making the ballot itself list one of the most
important pieces of information voters want about every
state ballot measures: who supports and opposes it.
"Election after election, we have seen ballot measure
campaigns flood the media with advertisements intended to
sway voters," said Assembly Member Santiago. "At
the same time, we know ballot measures can contain language
that voters may find confusing. This bill will ensure
voters have critical information on who supports and
opposes the measure right at their fingertips when casting
their vote."
AB 1416 is parallel to, and has the same language as, the
also recently introduced SB 90 (Stern), but is starting in
the Assembly instead of in the Senate. Both are sponsored
by the California Clean Money Campaign and will add to the
current 75-word title, summary, and fiscal analysis of each
measure on the ballot a short list of the supporters and
opponents who signed the official arguments for and against
it in the voter information guide. Supporters and opponents
must be a maximum of 15 words each.
A poll conducted by the California Clean Money
Campaign of 661 likely November 2020 California voters from
July 22nd to August 22nd 2019 showed that an overwhelming
percentage of voters say it is important to them to know
who supports and opposes ballot measures when they vote,
but that most voters aren't confident they know this
information or think it's easy to find.
The poll found that 79% of likely voters
say it's important to them "to know who supports and
opposes ballot measures when they vote". These
results held across the political spectrum with 84% of
Democrats, 80% of Republicans, and 70% of Independents
saying supporters and opponents were "very important" or
"somewhat important" to know. Despite the importance of
this information to the vast majority of voters, the poll
also found that only 21% of likely voters
were very confident they knew the important supporters and
opponents of ballot measures when they vote.
These results probably explain why the poll also found that
75% of likely voters favor "adding to the
ballot a short list of the supporters and opponents of each
ballot proposition" -- precisely what AB 1416 and SB
90 will do. Support was again across the board with 80% of
Democrats, 72% of Republicans, and 70% of Independents in
favor.
"This bill won?t fix the power of money in politics but
it will make voting on ballot initiatives less
confusing," said Senator Stern. "Who supports and
opposes a particular initiative is one of the best data
points a voter can have to make informed choices at the
ballot box."
"Wealthy special interests have a huge unfair advantage
on ballot measures, spending tens or even hundreds of
millions of dollars on deceptive ads that often mislead
voters about who really supports and opposes
propositions," said Trent Lange, President of the
California Clean Money Campaign, sponsor of AB 1416 and SB
90. "That's why we're thrilled Assembly Member Santiago
is moving a version of the Ballot DISCLOSE Act that's
parallel to Senator Stern?s SB 90 so voters know the truth
when they vote."
AB 1416 is expected to be heard in the Assembly Elections
Committee sometime in April, the same month that SB 90 is
expected to be heard in the Senate Elections and
Constitutional Amendments Committee.
"DISCLOSE" is an acronym for Democracy is Strengthened by
Casting Light on Spending in Elections.
***
The California Clean Money Campaign is a non-partisan
501(c)(3) organization that has been dedicated to educating
the public about the need to lessen the unfair influence of
Big Money on election campaigns since 2001. For further
information, visit www.YesFairElections.org.