Bill to Hold Presidential Primary in March Revived

An Assembly committee Monday revived a previously rejected bill to move up the state’s presidential primary from June to March to give California more clout in choosing the nominees to be the nation’s chief executive.

A 13-5 vote sent the measure by Assemblyman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) from the Ways and Means Committee to the Assembly floor.

The bill calls for the presidential primary to be consolidated with the regular statewide primary election on the first Tuesday in March. In non-presidential election years, the state primary would continue to be held in June.

Costa argues that California’s presidential primary comes too late now to give the state much influence in the nominating process. He says moving it up also would mean a multimillion-dollar boost for the state’s economy because competing candidates would spend more money here wooing voters.

The San Joaquin Valley assemblyman said the current system allows other states to choose 85% of the delegates to the presidential nominating conventions before California has a say.

His proposed change would put California fifth in line on the convention delegate-selection calendar, behind the Iowa and Maine caucuses and the New Hampshire and South Dakota primaries.

“My bill will make California a major player in the presidential sweepstakes,” Costa said.

Asked whether he believes Gov. Pete Wilson would sign the bill into law, Costa replied, “We’ll see.” The Republican governor, himself a potential White House candidate in 1996, previously has said he favors moving up California’s presidential primary.

The legislation was rejected by the committee in late June, but Costa received permission to bring up the bill again. There was no testimony either for or against the measure at Monday’s committee hearing.

The Legislature has rejected several similar early presidential primary proposals in the past, partly because of the expected additional cost of holding two primaries.

Costa said the single-primary theme would save $38 million at a time when the state faces serious fiscal difficulties.