Cal. ELEC § 9170 — California Code / Code elec / Division 9 / Chapter 2 / Article 3 / Section 9170
Section 9170
Status: in_force

(a) Subject to subdivision (d), the ballot label or similar description of a county, city, district, or school measure on a county ballot shall end with all of the following:

(1) After the text “Supporters:”, a listing of associations, nonprofit organizations, businesses, or individuals taken from the signers or the text of the argument in favor of the measure printed in the voter information guide. The list of supporters shall not exceed 125 characters in length. Each supporter shall be separated by a semicolon. An association, nonprofit organization, business, or individual shall not be listed unless they support the measure.

(2) After the text “Opponents:”, a listing of associations, nonprofit organizations, businesses, or individuals taken from the signers or the text of the argument against the measure printed in the voter information guide. The list of opponents shall not exceed 125 characters in length. Each opponent shall be separated by a semicolon. An association, nonprofit organization, business, or individual shall not be listed unless they oppose the measure.

(3) A supporter or opponent shall not be listed pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) unless it is one of the following:

(A) An association, nonprofit organization, or business that was not originally created as a committee described in Section 82013 of the Government Code and that has been in existence for at least four years.

(B) A current or former elected official, who may be listed with the official’s title (e.g., “State Senator Mary Smith,” “Assembly Member Carlos Garcia,” or “former Eureka City Council Member Amy Lee”). These titles may be shortened (e.g. “Senator” or “Sen.” for “State Senator” or “Asm.” for “Assembly Member”).

(C) An individual who is not a current or former elected official may be listed only with the individual’s first and last name and an honorific (e.g., “Dr.,” “M.D.,” “Ph.D.,” or “Esquire”), with no other title or designation, unless it is a title representing an association, nonprofit organization, or business that meets the requirements of subparagraph (A) or (B) and that is eligible to be listed under paragraph (1) if the individual supports the measure or under paragraph (2) if the individual opposes the measure.

(4) Spaces, commas, semicolons, and other characters count towards the 125-character limit in paragraphs (1) and (2).

(5) A supporter or opponent shall not be listed pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) if the supporter or opponent is a political party or is representing a political party.

(6) The name of an association, nonprofit organization, or business included in the list of supporters and opponents as required by this section may be shortened by the proponents or opponents who submit it using acronyms, abbreviations, or by leaving out words in their name, as long as doing so would not confuse voters with another well-known organization or business that did not take the same position on the ballot measure (e.g., “Hot Air Balloon Flyers of Montana Education Fund” may be shortened to “Hot Air Balloons Montana”).

(7) Supporters and opponents listed pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) shall be added as text after the condensed ballot title and summary, if any, and may be separated by semicolons. Supporters and opponents need not be displayed on separate horizontal lines on the ballot. If no list of supporters is provided by the proponents or there are none that meet the requirements of this section, then “Supporters:” shall be followed by “None submitted.” If no list of opponents is provided by the opponents or there are none that meet the requirements of this section, then “Opponents:” shall be followed by “None submitted.”

(8) If the ballot emphasizes the text “Supporters:” or “Opponents:” by use of boldface font, underlining, or any other method that differentiates that text from the list of supporters or opponents that follow, the text “Supporters:” or “Opponents:” may be displayed with only the initial letter capitalized. If that text is not emphasized, then each letter of that text shall be capitalized.

(9) If including the list of Supporters and Opponents in the ballot labels as required by this section would necessitate the printing of an extra ballot card compared to the ballot labels not including them, the type size of the part of all of the ballot labels starting with “Supporters:” may be reduced by the minimal amount needed to stop them from necessitating an extra ballot card, as long as the type size is no smaller than 8-point and as long as the type size is reduced by the same amount for all ballot measures.

(b) (1) The proponents of the measure shall provide the list of supporters described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) to the elections official when submitting arguments supporting the measure.

(A) For every supporter listed that is an association, a nonprofit organization, a business, or an individual whose title includes an association, nonprofit organization, or business, the supporters shall include a signed statement by a representative of the association, nonprofit organization, or business, under penalty of perjury, that includes its name and an address and that attests (i) that the association, nonprofit organization, or business supports the measure, (ii) that the association, nonprofit organization, or business has been in existence for at least four years, and (iii) that it was not originally created as a committee described in Section 82013 of the Government Code.

(B) For every supporter listed that is an individual, the proponents shall include a signed statement by the individual that includes the individual’s name and address and attests that the individual supports the measure.

(2) The opponents of the measure shall provide the list of opponents described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) to the elections official when submitting the arguments opposing the measure.

(A) For every opponent listed that is an association, a nonprofit organization, a business, or an individual whose title includes an association, nonprofit organization, or business, the opponents shall include a signed statement by a representative of the association, nonprofit organization, or business, under penalty of perjury, that includes its name and an address and that attests (i) that the association, nonprofit organization, or business opposes the measure, (ii) that the association, nonprofit organization, or business has been in existence for at least four years, and (iii) that it was not originally created as a committee described in Section 82013 of the Government Code.

(B) For every opponent listed that is an individual, the opponents shall include a signed statement by the individual that includes the individual’s name and address and attests that the opponent opposes the measure.

(3) The elections official that receives the ballot arguments and list of supporters or opponents shall confirm that a submission listing supporters or opponents includes the documentation required by paragraphs (1) and (2) and otherwise meets the requirements of this section. The elections official shall ask the proponents or opponents to resubmit a list if the requirements are not met. The elections official may establish deadlines by when proponents or opponents must resubmit a list.

(c) Within one week of receipt, an elections official that is not a county elections official that administers a city, district, or school election and that receives a list of supporters or opponents for inclusion on the ballot label or similar description shall, after confirming compliance with this section as provided in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), forward that list to the county elections official.

(d) At least 30 days before the deadline for submitting arguments for or against county measures, a county board of supervisors may elect not to list supporters and opponents for county, city, district, and school measures on the county ballot and future county ballots.

(1) A county shall not include a list of supporters or opponents for any county, city, district, or school measure if the county does not include a list of supporters or opponents for all measures for which the county receives a list that meets the requirements of this section. If the county elects not to list supporters and opponents for county, city, district, or school measures on the county ballot, the requirements of subdivisions (a) through (c) do not apply.

(2) A district measure or school measure on a county ballot shall not include a list of supporters or opponents if the same district or school measure appears on the ballot of another county that does not include a list of supporters or opponents for the measure, in which case the requirements of subdivisions (a) through (c), inclusive, do not apply for the measure.