BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 477
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 13, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 477 (Valadao) - As Amended:  April 5, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires county elections officials to count the vote 
          of a special absentee voter temporarily living outside the 
          United States if the voter's ballot is (a) postmarked on or 
          before election day and (b) received by the elections official 
          on or before the 10th day following the election.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Likely minor reimbursable General Fund costs for counties to 
          sort through ballots arriving too late and determine which ones 
          are eligible to be counted pursuant to this bill.  According to 
          the Secretary of State (SOS), for the November 2008 election, 
          about 1,900 (2.8%) of the 69,800 overseas ballots returned were 
          rejected for arriving after election day.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . The author cites a report by the Pew Center on the 
            States showing that, while California requires all 
            vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots to be received by close of polls on 
            Election Day, 18 states and the District of Columbia allow the 
            counting of such ballots if received between three and 
            twenty-one days after Election Day if postmarked on or before 
            the date of the election. The author argues that AB 477 would 
            allow all parties residing abroad the extra time needed to 
            ensure their vote is counted.

           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 








                                                                  AB 477
                                                                  Page  2

            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.

           3)Prior Legislation  .  In 2009, AB 1340 (Lowenthal), which 
            included provisions similar to AB 477, in addition to some 
            rather extensive reporting requirements, was held on Suspense 
            in Senate Appropriations.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081