Senate Appropriations Committee approves AB 604, sends measure to Senate floor on 5-2 vote

The California State Senate Committee on Appropriations voted 5-2 to pass AB 604 to the Senate floor, sending the bill onward after debate over its fiscal impact and potential litigation costs.

AB 604, introduced in the Assembly by Assemblymember Aguiar Curry and carried in the Senate by Senator Gonzales, would lay out a temporary congressional district map that takes effect only if voters approve ACA 8 and if partisan maps are enacted in other states. "AB 604 lays out a temporary congressional district map, but only if the voters approve ACA 8 and only if partisan maps are pushed through in other states," Assemblymember Aguiar Curry said, adding that the proposal was based on the California Citizens Redistricting Commission's work and that "the fiscal impact of this bill should be minimal." The committee voted to pass the bill to the Senate floor; the final roll call was 5 to 2.

The hearing was limited to fiscal matters. Christian Belcher of the Department of Finance told the committee that a reasonable point of comparison is a recent statewide special election, which cost about $200,000,000. "We can fairly estimate it'd be $200,000,000 or potentially more," Belcher said, describing the election cost component that counties would require resources to cover. The Department of Finance representative also said litigation costs would be accounted for in other budget line items, separately from the estimated election cost.

Supporters argued the expense is justified given what they described as larger federal threats to California funding. "The fiscal impact of this bill should be minimal and pales in comparison to Trump's and congressional Republicans' fiscal attacks on California," Aguiar Curry said. Pastor Trina Turner, a member of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, testified in support and said the election gives voters a chance to push back against federal actions she described as harming Californians. "This opportunity, this election will give the California voters an opportunity ... to begin to push back against what's going on in Washington," Turner said.

Dolores Huerta, president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, also spoke in support, saying, "Democracy does not have a price," and asked committee members to vote yes.

Opponents and some senators pressed the panel for more complete fiscal detail. Several committee members said they did not have a full accounting of costs already incurred for map drafting, potential consultant fees or the scope of litigation expenditures. One senator noted that the Department of Finance did not provide a total for previously spent map-drafting costs and that contract consultant rates cited in committee testimony could be as high as about $1,600 per hour. The chair and staff repeatedly emphasized that the committee was considering only the fiscal impacts of AB 604 during this hearing and that related measures—ACA 8 and SB 280—were not before this committee for policy debate.

Committee discussion included repeated reminders from the chair that reimbursements to counties for election costs would be handled by the state, and from supporters that the bill contains triggers that could halt expenditures if the specified out-of-state actions do not occur or if voters reject ACA 8.

A motion to pass AB 604 to the Senate floor carried on a roll call; the final vote recorded by the committee was 5 ayes and 2 noes. The chair announced the bill as out of committee. The measure will proceed to the Senate for further consideration; its provisions would become operative only if the statutory and voter-trigger conditions described by the author are met.

Evidence for this article was taken from committee testimony and roll-call announcements during the Appropriations Committee hearing on AB 604, including statements by Assemblymember Aguiar Curry, the Department of Finance, and witnesses in support and opposition.