2004 California Proposition 60

Provisions

Proposition 60 related to partisan primary elections for statewide offices, as well as races for the state legislature, and the State Board of Equalization. It added to the state constitution Article II, Section 5 (b), stating that

The official summary of the proposition stated

Candidate receiving most votes from among that party's candidates in primary election for state partisan office cannot be denied placement on general election ballot.}}

It was declared by the Legislative Analyst to have "no fiscal effect".

Process of enactment

In 2004 the state legislature proposed a constitutional amendment called Senate Constitutional Amendment 18. This contained provisions relating to both primary elections and funds from the sale of government property. This was to be put to voters as a single measure called Proposition 60. However Californians for an Open Primary challenged the measure as a violation of the rule that ballot propositions must deal with only a single subject. The group wished to have Proposition 60 removed from the ballot. Instead, in Californians for an Open Primary v. Shelley, the Third District Court of Appeals ordered that the proposition be split, so that the provisions relating to government property would become a separate measure, called Proposition 60A.

Proposition 60 (including the provisions later excised) was approved by the California State Senate by a vote of 28-3 and by the State Assembly by a by 55–21. On November 2, 2004, it was approved by voters by a majority of 5,806,708 (67.3%) "Yes" votes, to 2,829,284 (32.7%) "No" votes. Proposition 60A was also approved by voters.

References

References

1. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/bp_nov04/prop_60_text_of_proposed_law.pdf {{Webarchive. link. (2009-05-12 Office of the California Secretary of State. "Text of Proposed Laws: Proposition 60," (retrieved on April 11th, 2009))
2. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/bp_nov04/prop_60_ballot_title_and_summary.pdf {{Webarchive. link. (2009-05-12 Office of the California Secretary of State. "Proposition 60: Official Title and Summary," (retrieved on April 11th, 2009).)
3. The full title is Senate Constitutional Amendment 18 of the 2003–2004 Regular Session (Resolution Chapter 103, Statutes of 2004)
4. http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/California_Proposition_60A_(2004) Ballotpedia. "California Proposition 60A (2004)," (retrieved on April 11th, 2009).