BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2101
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          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 2101 (Fong)
          As Amended  May 20, 2010
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |74-0 |(May 6, 2010)   |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 9,     |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2010)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:    E. & R.  

           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 conviction of a person for engaging in  
            prohibited voter registration activities, to order as a  
            condition of probation that the convicted person be prohibited  
            from receiving money or other valuable consideration for  
            assisting another person to register to vote by receiving the  
            completed affidavit of registration.

          2)Permits a court, upon conviction of a person for engaging in  
            prohibited conduct regarding the circulation of an initiative,  
            referendum, or recall petition, to order as a condition of  
            probation that the convicted person be prohibited from  
            receiving money or other valuable consideration for gathering  
            signatures on an initiative, referendum, or recall petition.

           The Senate amendments  make a court's order to prohibit a person  
          from being paid to circulate petitions or register voters a  
          condition of probation, rather than making a violation of a  
          court's order subject to civil penalties.

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill was similar to the version  
          approved by the Senate, except that it provided that a violation  
          of a court's order to prohibit a person from being paid to  
          circulate petitions or register voters was punishable by civil  
          penalties of up to $50,000, instead of making the court's order  
          a condition of the convicted person's probation.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.









                                                                  AB 2101
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           COMMENTS  :  According to the author, "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' partisan  
          affiliation 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."

          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  








                                                                  AB 2101
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          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.  
           
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 


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