SACRAMENTO – Experts will discuss whether recall elections should be limited to cases of improper conduct by elected officials, like illegal or unethical activities, when the Legislature holds the second in a series of joint hearings to explore possible reforms to California’s recall process at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, Dec. 6.

Legislators will also hear from local government officials and experts about how the recall is functioning at the local level and possible reform of the rules governing recalls of city, county and other locally elected officials.

The panel is chaired by Senator Steve Glazer (D-Contra Costa), Chair of the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments and Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Elections.

The hearing will be held in Room 4202 of the State Capitol and will be livestreamed on the Senate and Assembly websites.

• When: Monday, December 6, 2021 at 9:30 a.m.
• What: Joint Hearing of the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments and the Assembly Committee on Elections on the subject of “Evaluating California’s State and Local Recall Process”
• Who: Chaired by Assemblymember Marc Berman and Senator Steve Glazer
• Where: State Capitol, Room 4202, Sacramento, CA
• How to Access Online: A livestream of the hearing will be linked from the Assembly and Senate websites at https://aelc.assembly.ca.gov/hearings and https://selc.senate.ca.gov/agenda.

From Sept. 15

UPDATED: Senate and Assembly Election’s Chairs Call for Recall Reform

SACRAMENTO – The California Legislature’s two election committee chairmen will hold a press availability on Zoom on Wednesday September 15 at 10 a.m. to discuss their recall reform plans.

Assembly member Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), Chair of the Assembly Committee on Elections, and Senator Steve Glazer (D – Contra Costa), Chair of the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments, will discuss their plan for fixing a broken recall system.

10:00 am UPDATE Election Chairs Call for Reform  of Flawed Recall System

Senator Glazer and Assembly member Berman to hold hearings to examine needed changes in wake of recently concluded recall election

Sacramento – The California Legislature’s two leading members on election issues on Wednesday announced a coordinated effort to examine reforms to California’s recall election system.

Assemblymember Marc Berman (D – Menlo Park) and Senator Steve Glazer (D – Contra Costa) said they are determined to fix a broken system in the wake of the 2021 gubernatorial recall election, which raised questions about whether a system designed in the early 20^th century has enough checks and balances to ensure democratic and fair elections.

Berman, Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Elections, and Glazer, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments, will hold a series of bipartisan joint hearings in the coming months to begin a statewide discussion regarding potential improvements to California’s recall laws. The intent is to produce a proposal that will be taken up in the Legislature during the 2022 legislative session.

“Now that the recall is over, I believe it is time to re-evaluate and update California’s recall process,” said Senator Glazer.  “The voters want to see a more democratic process put in place that keeps elected officials accountable, but prevents political gamesmanship of the rules.  We hope to work with policy experts and stakeholders of different political perspectives on a viable solution that ultimately makes sense for a modern-day California.”

The committees will evaluate recall laws in other states, and will invite experts to examine California’s recall process, including issues such as grounds for removal; signature gathering requirements; process of succession if a governor is recalled; and other issues. The process will be open to the public in an effort to maintain the utmost transparency, and the committees also hope to include the expertise of elections officials, political scientists, legal experts, and others.

“While the recall is an important tool for voters to address misconduct or corruption by elected officials, yesterday’s election highlighted the fundamentally undemocratic nature of California’s existing recall process,” said Assemblymember Berman. “California law should not allow someone else to be recalled and replaced by a candidate who receives far fewer votes. I look forward to hearing from a bipartisan group of experts about how California’s recall process should be reformed.”

Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins said that she supports examining recall reform.

“A thorough review of California’s recall law is timely and worthy of debate, and I would like to thank Senator Glazer and Assemblymember Berman for spearheading the efforts to start this important conversation,” Atkins said.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon said, “It is totally appropriate to begin discussion of reforming the recall process. We came far too close to having a Governor elected by a tiny fraction of eligible voters. While that is no way to pick the leader of the most populous state in the nation, it would be equally wrong to make any changes without a thorough study of alternatives. I look forward to hearing the discussion.”

The recall process was adopted in California almost 110 years ago, but has been used sparingly for most of the state’s history. More than 70% of the attempts to recall elected state officials that have qualified for the ballot, including the only two statewide recall elections in California history, have occurred in the last 27 years. Each of California’s last nine Governors has faced multiple recall attempts, though only two of those attempts have qualified for the ballot.

Two recent polls, conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California and by the Institute of Government Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that a majority of voters favor keeping but reforming the recall process.