SB 1043 Summary

• Defines "political party qualification petition" as a petition circulated to qualify a political party in accordance with existing procedures, establishing consistent terminology across election law.

• Extends existing penal provisions for initiative, referendum, and recall petitions to apply to political party qualification petitions, including prohibitions on false statements, forged signatures, and fraudulent activities.

• Adds criminal penalties for fraudulent activities related to in-lieu-filing-fee petitions (petitions submitted in place of candidate filing fees), including falsification, suppression, and knowingly filing false documents.

• Modifies party qualification thresholds to reference 0.33 percent of registered voters instead of 1 percent for affiliation-based qualification, and allows parties to decline votes cast for certain candidates toward the 2 percent electoral threshold.

• Includes conditional operative provisions coordinating with Assembly Bill 2351 and Senate Bill 1253 if those bills are enacted before January 1, 2015, and declares no state reimbursement required for local costs related to new criminal penalties.