BILL ANALYSIS AB 2101 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 2101 (Fong) As Amended May 20, 2010 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(May 6, 2010) |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 9, | | | | | | |2010) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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 FN: 0005126