With no extra money in county budgets, who funds the Newsom recall election?
The recall election of Gov. Gavin Newsom is all but certain after the date for signers to withdraw their names from the petition has passed. But as the Secretary of State's Office now tallies up the total number of valid signatures, there's a question about who's footing the bill for the recall election. Early estimates peg the cost at $400 million.
| RELATED | Secretary of State recall information
"This is un-budgeted. We haven't put any money into our budget for next year to cover the cost of this," El Dorado County Registrar Bill O'Neill said.
He's concerned about the cost, especially at a time when his county is already working to rebound from lost revenue during the pandemic. He said the registrar's office has a small budget, ranging from $1.3 to $1.5 million, but that includes funding for the primary election in June of next year.
"So that is 25% more and our department doesn't have those funds and our county is working very hard right now to get as much help out to our businesses and our residents that have been impacted by COVID," O'Neill said. "So every dollar that is taken away from the county, that is a dollar that is taken away from our voters and from our constituents in the county."
The state Department of Finance has already requested the estimated cost for the recall election from each county.
At the minimum, El Dorado County would need $441,778 to cover the election, O'Neill said.
If the state doesn't cover the election costs, O'Neill said the money would come from the county's general fund.
"And the county general fund right now is being used for other things around COVID relief, but also around roads," he said. "We are trying to free up money to be able to do more road maintenance, Health and Human Services initiatives, other things that directly impact our constituents."
In Sacramento County, officials estimate $4.4 million for the election but just for services and supplies. That would not include paying staff.
What lawmakers say about funding for the Newsom recall election
State Sen. Anna Caballero, a Democrat from District 12, chairs the subcommittee overseeing the budget specifically for the recall.
She said she was "disappointed" that hundreds of millions of dollars will be spent for this election ahead of another new election in a year.
But she said one of the state's responsibilities is to help counties with elections. Caballero maintains the matter is being taken very seriously.
"The state has never not stood up and helped counties to make sure that we pay for elections," Caballero said. "We're going to take care of it."
However, as of right now, the cost for the recall election isn't in the budget.
KCRA 3 asked Sen. Jim Neilson, the vice chair of the Budget Committee if it's possible that there won't be enough money in the budget to fund the recall.
"There is. Of course there is because there's billions of unfunded mandates pending right now," he said. "So of course it could. But it would certainly make the governor look bad and the Legislature look bad if they would not fund our county elections."
Both Caballero and Nielson told KCRA 3 that the funding for the recall could be added after June 15.
Caballero said there are several items that lawmakers are working on that will be complete by next week. Some others must be completed by August. She anticipates the recall election funding to be one of them.
Meanwhile, Nielson said this year's budget as passed can still be amended through trailer bills.
By definition, a trailer bill is legislation that implements specific changes to the law in order to enact the state budget. Generally, a separate trailer bill is needed for each major area of budget appropriation, such as transportation, human services, education and revenue. These bills are generally negotiated as part of the entire budget package each fiscal year.
What's next in the California recall process
As far as what's next in the recall process, county elections officials will have until June 22 to report to the Secretary of State's Office the number of signatures that were withdrawn.
If there are still enough valid signatures, the secretary of state would notify the Department of Finance. Within 30 days, the finance department gives the total cost to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the governor's office and the secretary of state.
The committee has another 30 days to review. Afterward, the lieutenant governor is required to call a recall election between 60 and 80 days.
It's predicted that the recall election could happen sometime between September and November.