BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 193 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 193 (Knight) - As Amended: April 5, 2011 Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes SUMMARY This bill: 1)Prohibits a single family home from being designated as a polling place if it is the residence of a person who is required to register pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA). 2)Requires elections officials, at a minimum, to consult the database of registered sex offenders that is maintained by the Department of Justice (DOJ) prior to designating a location as a polling place. FISCAL EFFECT Minor ongoing reimbursable General Fund costs for counties to check the DOJ database for each single family residence polling place and to locate a new polling place for those residence found to be housing a registered sex offender. Approximately 1,500 (less than 10%) of the state's polling places are in single family residences. In addition to the database search, assuming a new polling place location would have to be found for 1% of the homes, annual statewide costs would likely not exceed $25,000. COMMENTS 1)Purpose . According to the author, newspaper articles published this past summer highlighted the discovery of polling places being located at the residences of registered sex offenders. A rough search indicated there were 19 polling places in five Bay Area counties that were listed on the Megan's Law website AB 193 Page 2 as the residences of sex offenders. The author explains that, at polling locations include student volunteers and that parents bring their children to the polls, thus there is an expectation of security. The author argues that, when information regarding sex offender locations is available on a comprehensive public database, the counties consult this database prior to designating a polling place. The most recent amendments narrowed the bill to apply only to single family residences. 2)Elections Mandates : As recently passed by the Legislature, the pending 2011-12 Budget suspends most existing state-mandated local programs, including all six existing elections-related mandates, as a cost-savings mechanism. Among the suspended election mandates are the requirement for counties to allow any voter to become a permanent VBM voter and to tabulate VBM ballots by precinct. This bill adds another, albeit relative inexpensive mandate on counties. Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081