BILL NUMBER: AB 1440	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 17, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 25, 2009
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 9, 2009

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Swanson

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to add Section 14313 to the Elections Code, relating to
elections.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1440, as amended, Swanson. Elections: provisional ballots.
   Existing law requires that a provisional ballot be issued to a
voter claiming to be properly registered but whose qualification or
entitlement to vote cannot be immediately established upon
examination of the index of registration or records on file with the
county elections official.
   This bill would require a county elections official to issue a
provisional ballot, including any materials necessary to process the
ballot, to  specified persons responding to  an
emergency  declared by the Governor   worker, as
defined  . The bill would require the county elections official
to transmit the ballot to the county where the voter is registered
and would specify requirements for the ballot to be counted and the
ballot materials to be preserved.
   Because the bill would increase duties of local elections
officials, it would impose a state-mandated local program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates
determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these
statutory provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 14313 is added to the Elections Code, to read:
   14313.  (a) Upon the declaration of a state of emergency by the
Governor, elections officials in the counties included in the
executive order shall, upon demand, issue to  any person who
is a public safety worker, emergency services worker, or other person
officially engaged in responding to the declared emergency, a
  an emergency worker a  provisional ballot that
may be identical to the provisional ballot offered to other voters in
the county, using a process to be determined by the elections
official. The elections official shall transmit for processing any
ballot cast, including any materials necessary to process the ballot,
pursuant to this section to the elections official in the county
where the voter is registered to vote.
   (b) To be counted, a ballot cast pursuant to this section shall
satisfy both of the following requirements:
   (1) Be cast by the voter no later than the close of the polls on
election day.
   (2) Be received by the county elections official where the voter
is registered on or before the 10th day following the date of the
election.
   (3) Upon receipt of the returned ballot, the elections official
shall process the ballot pursuant to the procedures in subdivision
(c) of Section 14310.
   (c) If the requirements in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) of
subdivision (b) are met and the ballot is eligible to be counted, the
ballot shall be duplicated and all other materials preserved
according to the procedures set forth in this code. 
   (d) "Emergency worker" for the purposes of this section means a
person who is officially engaged in responding to the proclaimed
state of emergency and whose vocation has been identified in the
Governor's executive order proclaiming the state of emergency. 
  SEC. 2.  If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.