Primary Results Suggest A More "Business-Friendly" Senate

For apartment owners, the results of the statewide primary held the first week of June bring some good news. While most of the press attention focused on the races for Governor and the other high-profile statewide offices, results in the legislative primaries suggest that a more pro-business slant is coming to the State Senate next year.

Of the 20 State Senate races on the ballot this election cycle, 12 were "open seats" on account of term limits forcing the incumbent to leave office; the other 8 will in all likelihood return the incumbent to office. Of the 12 open seats, ten were held by Democrats in what are considered "safe seats" for the party, meaning that the voter registration numbers in those districts make it all but a certainty that the Democrat nominee will win the seat in the November election. Six of the 10 primaries for these open-Democrat seats pitted current or recent members of the Assembly against each other. Each of these six Democrat primary races offered a liberal versus moderate choice.

Moderate Democrats won half of the six contested elections described above. In the 30th Senate district Assemblyman Ron Calderon narrowly defeated Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez for the Democrat nomination to succeed Senator Martha Escutia. In the 32nd district, now held by Senator Nell Soto, Assemblywoman Gloria Negrette-McLeod won the Democrat primary over Assemblyman Joe Baca. And in the 34th district, current Orange County Supervisor and former Assemblyman Lou Correa defeated Assemblyman Tom Umberg in the battle to succeed Senator Joe Dunn. These were the moderate victories and the new Senators will bring a far more bro-business outlook to the Senate than their predecessors.

Liberal Democrats won the other three contested Democrat nominations. In 28th Senate District, Assemblywoman Jenny Oropeza beat former Assemblyman George Nakano in the race to succeed Senator Deborah Bowen. Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla defeated Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez and will replace Senator Richard Alarcon in the 20th district. And former Assemblywoman Ellen Corbett beat current Assemblymen John Dutra and Johan Klehs in the 10th Senate District, which is now represented by Liz Figueroa. While these winners fit comfortably within the liberal camp their impact on the Senate should be less noticeable in that they will succeed members who were generally liberal as well.

Given the overall election trends, splitting those six races marks a good performance for the moderates. Voter malaise combined with the generally negative campaign between Phil Angelides and Steve Westly in the gubernatorial primary to produce a record-low primary turnout; only 34.3% of registered Democrats voted in this primary. Generally speaking, lower turnout skews the electorate in an ideological direction. Moderates and independents tend to be more likely to stay home while conservatives and liberals continue to vote. This year, that tendency produced a more liberal than usual Democrat voter base that fueled the Angelides win at the top of the ticket. In this environment, splitting the open Senate seats represented a positive result for moderate Democrat candidates.

Currently Democrats control 25 of the 40 seats in the State Senate. That partisan split will likely remain intact after the November elections. Nonetheless, placing three moderate Democrats into seats now held by relatively liberal members changes the psychology of the Senate. Moderate Democrats will have the numbers to join with Republicans on the Floor to block legislation deemed anti-business. In addition, committees will offer a more favorable audience to business arguments. Given the number of close votes in recent years on issues that apartment owners follow - the defeat of 60-day notice or the defeat of proposals to block condominium conversions, for example - these elections could make a big difference on critical issues during the coming years.

Legislative Update - Condominium Conversion Restrictions Defeated

Some good news came recently on the legislative front. On May 31st, the Assembly defeated AB 2562 (Saldana) on the Assembly Floor by a vote of 38-39. In practical effect the bill would have delayed and deterred condominium conversions by extending the notice requirements to tenants by a minimum of 180 days. This win came after a day-long floor fight.

Norwood & Associates, representing the Apartment Association, California Southern Cities, joined with lobbyists from the California Association of Realtors, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, and the Apartment Association of Orange County in working the bill that day. Assemblywoman Saldana presented her measure shortly after session convened and at 10:45 AM the first roll call vote came - 33 AYE, 28 NO, with 19 members not voting. With 41 votes needed for passage the measure went on "call," meaning that the Assembly could return to update the vote at any time throughout the remainder of the session. Working this call meant both keeping as many as possible of the 19 members not recorded on the original roll call from adding on as an AYE and persuading one or two of the original AYE votes to change their votes. In aggregate, the lobbyists working the bill spoke to over 20 members during the course of the next 10 hours while the Assembly remained in session.

In parliamentary terms, it is "lifting the call" whenever the vote on a measure is reopened during an Assembly session. A legislator can lift a call as many times as needed - upon approval of the house - during the course of a legislative session. When Assemblywoman Saldana first lifted the call on her measure, shortly before 1 PM, the AYE vote jumped to 40, just one short of the number needed for passage. That news both surprised and disappointed the apartment lobbyists present in that our review of the roll call - and our conversations to that point with legislators - had suggested that we could keep the AYE vote in the high 30s. All hope was not lost, however, because after some quick consultations with members listed as AYE on the updated roll we realized that several of our votes had inadvertently cast an AYE vote. Recognize that on this day the Assembly was considering and voting on literally hundreds of proposals; bill numbers and issues sometimes run together and members occasionally confuse a vote.

We continued to work the bill and were rewarded when, at 7:33 PM, Assemblywoman Saldana next lifted the call and actually lost votes - this now third roll call came in at 38 AYE, 39 NO, with only 3 not voting. Our confidence soared because all 3 of the legislators listed as not voting had committed to us not to vote AYE. (Members who do not support a bill sometimes simply do not vote rather than formally vote NO. In legislating, not voting has the same effect as voting NO.) At this point our job came down to keeping the NO votes solid. Our confidence proved to be well founded because when Assemblywoman Saldana lifted her call for the final time, shortly before 10 PM as the Assembly began to shut down, the vote stayed at 38-39. With 41 votes required to pass a bill in the Assembly, the measure was defeated.

The process on AB 2562 was very similar to the floor fight last year on SB 51 (Kuehl), legislation that would have continued the requirement that tenants with more than one year on the premises receive a 60-day notice of termination. The same coalition of moderate Democrats and Republicans defeated both measures. We intend during the final months of the 2006 session to join that same group to defeat AB 1169 (Torrico), this year's attempt to require a 60-day notice, as well as SB 540 (Kehoe), which proposes to grant tenants an absolute right to display political signs on the premises. Killing a bill brings other rewards. An apartment coalition with a proven record of lobbying success gets a better reception when requesting amendments.

The Legislature is scheduled to take its summer recess from July 7th to August 7th. With a constitutionally required adjournment set for August 31st, that means the Legislature will conclude its 2006 business with a final rush of activity during those last 3 1/2 weeks of session. It will be then that the fates of the remaining legislation affecting apartment owners will be decided. Next month's report will summarize all outstanding legislative issues.

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