BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2101
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 6, 2010

                  ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
                                  Paul Fong, Chair
                  AB 2101 (Fong) - As Introduced:  February 18, 2010
           
          SUBJECT  :   Elections: prohibiting payments.

           SUMMARY  :  Permits a court to prevent someone who is convicted of  
          initiative fraud or voter registration fraud from being paid to  
          circulate petitions or register voters.  Specifically,  this  
          bill  :  

          1)Permits a court, upon finding a person guilty of engaging in  
            prohibited voter registration activities, to issue an order  
            prohibiting that person from receiving money or other valuable  
            consideration for assisting another person to register to vote  
            by receiving the completed affidavit of registration.   
            Provides that such an order is in addition to any other  
            penalty imposed by state law.

          2)Permits a court, upon finding a person guilty of engaging in  
            prohibited conduct regarding the circulation of an initiative,  
            referendum, or recall petition, to issue an order prohibiting  
            that person from receiving money or other valuable  
            consideration for gathering signatures on an initiative,  
            referendum, or recall petition.  Provides that such an order  
            is in addition to any other penalty imposed by state law.

          3)Provides that a violation of an order issued by a court  
            pursuant to this bill is a misdemeanor.

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Prohibits various conduct with respect to the registration of  
            voters, including the following:

             a)   Registering a person, including oneself, who is not  
               entitled to register to vote;

             b)   Registering a fictitious person to vote;

             c)   Registering a person to vote under a false name or  
               address;









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             d)   Interfering with the return of a completed affidavit of  
               voter registration;

             e)   Refusing to return a completed affidavit of  
               registration;

             f)   Altering the content of an affidavit of registration  
               without the consent of the affiant; and,

             g)   Misusing the information from an affidavit of  
               registration.

          2)Prohibits various conduct with respect to the circulation of  
            an initiative, referendum, or recall petition, including the  
            following:

             a)   Misrepresentation by the circulator of a petition of the  
               contents, purport, or effect of the petition;

             b)   Refusal by the circulator to allow a petition signer to  
               read the petition;

             c)   Obscuring the summary of a measure prepared by the  
               Attorney General from the view of a prospective signer;

             d)   Offering or giving money or other valuable consideration  
               in exchange for a person's signature on a petition;

             e)   Affixing or soliciting false or forged signatures, or  
               fictitious names, on a petition;

             f)   Using the information on a petition that has been signed  
               by voters, including the voters' signatures, for any  
               purpose other than the qualification of the measure for the  
               ballot; and,

             g)   Making a false affidavit concerning a petition.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown.  State-mandated local program; contains  
          a crimes and infractions disclaimer.

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Purpose of the Bill  :  According to the author:









                                                                  AB 2101
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               Stories about voters being misled into signing initiative  
               petitions that they do not support or having their party  
               affiliations changed without their consent are all to  
               common.

               In the last two election cycles, individuals registering  
               voters in Southern California have been arrested and  
               charged in schemes to change voters' registrations from  
               Democratic to Republican without the voters' consent.

               Additionally, numerous complaints in recent years have  
               uncovered a common tactic of dishonest signature gatherers,  
               who tell voters that they need to sign multiple times to  
               have their signature counted on an initiative petition.   
               These signature gatherers then get voters to sign other  
               initiative petitions without disclosing to the voter what  
               those petitions would do.

               Unfortunately, such problems are all too common because  
               people who register voters or gather signatures on  
               petitions are often paid a "bounty" for each person that  
               they register or for each signature that they gather.  As a  
               result, signature gatherers and people registering voters  
               have a financial incentive to mislead voters to get them to  
               sign a petition or to re-register to vote.

               Previous efforts to limit the ability to pay "bounties" for  
               collecting signatures on petitions or registering voters  
               have failed due to concerns that such laws may make it more  
               difficult for grassroots organizations to gather signatures  
               on petitions and register voters.

               In reflection of those concerns, AB 2101 takes a narrower  
               approach.  AB 2101 cracks down on initiative fraud and  
               voter registration fraud by allowing courts to ban  
               individuals who are convicted of fraud from being paid to  
               collect signatures on initiative petitions or for  
               registering voters.  Law abiding citizens who are paid to  
               register voters and collect signatures on petitions would  
               not be affected by this bill.  Instead, this bill takes aim  
               at those who have been convicted of fraudulent behavior,  
               and gives judges the tools to prevent those individuals  
               from continuing to threaten the integrity of California's  
               elections.









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           2)Similar Laws in Other States  :  The provisions of this bill are  
            similar to laws enacted in Arizona and Oregon in 2009 which  
            prohibit petition circulators who are convicted of fraud from  
            being compensated for collecting signatures on initiative,  
            referendum, or recall petitions.  In 2009, Oregon's  
            Legislature approved and the Governor signed HB 2005, which  
            among other provisions prohibits a person from being eligible  
            to register as a petition circulator if that person has had  
            criminal or civil penalties imposed against him or her for a  
            violation of the state's laws governing the circulation of  
            petitions.  In Arizona, the Legislature approved and the  
            Governor approved SB 1091, which among other provisions  
            prohibits a person convicted of engaging in a pattern of  
            petition fraud from participating in any initiative,  
            referendum, or recall campaign for five years.  
          
           3)Previous Legislation  :  SB 34 (Corbett) of 2009 would have made  
            it a misdemeanor for a person to pay or to receive money or  
            any other thing of value based on the number of signatures  
            collected on a state or local initiative, referendum, or  
            recall petition.  SB 34 was vetoed by the Governor, who  
            expressed concern that it could "make it more difficult for  
            grassroots organizations to gather the necessary signatures  
            and qualify measures for the ballot."

          SB 1686 (Denham) of 2008 would have made it a misdemeanor,  
            punishable by a fine not exceeding $5,000, by imprisonment in  
            a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both the fine and  
            imprisonment, for a person, company, organization, company  
            official, or other organizational officer in charge of a  
            person who circulates an initiative, referendum, or recall  
            petition to knowingly direct or permit the person to make a  
            false affidavit concerning the initiative, referendum, or  
            recall petition.  SB 1686 was vetoed by the Governor, though  
            he did not express any policy objections to the bill.

           4)Double-Referral  :  This bill has been double-referred to the  
            Assembly Committee on Judiciary.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Association of Clerks and Election Officials









                                                                  AB 2101
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           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094