6:15am | The State Legislature has sent Governor Jerry Brown a pair of bills authored by Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal.
 
If it becomes law, the main effect of AB 362 will be to mandate that all would-be candidates for elected office, including write-ins, meet the statutory requirements for holding that office.
 
The bill is particularly target at judicial elections and situations like the one outlined in an AB 362 fact sheet provided by Lowenthal’s office:
 
During the 2008 June primary, a known white supremacist submitted petitions for write-in campaigns against six judges in Los Angeles up for reelection based on their Latino surnames. Even though he had no intention to run, because the signature requirement was low and there was no requirement to demonstrate qualification for the office he was able to submit six write-in campaign filings. The judges were left unsure as to whether they would actually have write-in opponents and whether they would need to raise campaign money, hire consultants and actually run a campaign.
 
AB 362 also raises the minimum number of required signatures on a write-in petition to 0.1% of the registered voters in a given county, where that number is at least 100 and no more than 600.
 
According to a press release from Lowenthal’s office, AB 462 “gives school districts new flexibility with existing clean air funds, so that they can replace the pressurized tanks on natural-gas-powered school buses.”
 
As Chief of Staff Will Shuck explained to Long Beach Post, the lifespan of the school buses in question is 30 years, “but federal regulations say the pressured tank can only be used for 15 years. So you have to either dispose of the bus or replace the tank.”
 
Shuck said that since currently the funds are earmarked only for buying buses, a change in law is necessary to keep perfectly good buses from being scrapped in lieu of the less costly alternative of also allowing the funds to be used for the tank replacement.
 
“Every dollar has to count, that’s really the point here,” says Lowenthal in the press release. “We want to keep clean buses on the road. Our children and our communities deserve no less.”