BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 35
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Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 35 (Padilla) - As Amended: August 6, 2012
Policy Committee: Elections and
RedistrictingVote: 5-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: Yes
SUMMARY
This bill significantly expands the list of state agencies
providing voter registration services, and provides the
Secretary of State (SOS) and county election officials with
corresponding responsibilities. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that the following agencies and government bodies
provide a citizen an opportunity to register to vote, and
assistance in completing a voter registration card, "with each
application for service or assistance": Department of Aging,
Health Benefit Exchange, Department of Veterans Affairs,
Employment Development Department, Franchise Tax Board, Office
of AIDS, State Board of Equalization, State Emergency Food
Assistance Program, State Personnel Board, high schools,
community colleges, California State University campuses, and
other small offices that administer benefits through a limited
number of state programs. Agencies and government bodies with
these responsibilities are known as "voter registration
agencies" (VRAs).
2)Requires VRAs to train relevant employees on providing voter
registration services, using training materials provided by
SOS.
3)Requires VRAs that provide services online to provide users
with an opportunity to register to vote online.
4)Requires the SOS to notify each county elections office of all
VRA locations within that county.
5)Requires the SOS to communicate best practices for providing
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voter registration services to VRAs; to assist VRAs in
providing voter registration services; and to follow-up with
VRAs that fail to provide timely reports on the results of
their voter registration services.
6)Allows the SOS to conduct an audit of a VRA's compliance with
SB 35 or a county elections office's compliance with SB 35, if
either fails to provide timely reports on the results of its
voter registration services.
7)Requires county elections offices to provide voter
registration cards to VRAs as needed; maintain a record of the
number of voter registration cards provided to and received
from each VRA; and assist a VRA, upon request, in conducting a
training program for VRA employees. County election offices
are responsible for coordinating with the SOS and their local
VRAs to ensure the requirements of this bill are met.
8)Requires county elections offices to report monthly to the SOS
the number of voter registration cards provided to and
received from each VRA. Requires the SOS to publish this
information on its website.
FISCAL EFFECT
This bill creates minor costs for the SOS and county elections
offices, and major costs - in the tens of millions for state
agencies newly designated as VRAs. The costs incurred by state
agencies vary, depending on how many Californians they serve and
the number of formats in which they serve them. For example,
agencies that serve Californians in person, by mail, by phone,
and online must provide voter registration services in all of
those formats, driving up costs.
Over time, as voter registration services merge into the other
services provided by each newly designated VRA, costs will
likely decline. Moreover, agencies are likely overestimating the
cost of providing online voter registration services, because
online voter registration (created in 2011 by SB 397) is new to
California. Costs should decline as online voter registration
becomes more widely used and agencies develop a familiarity with
it.
SB 35's total costs likely range from $60-75 million annually in
initial years, dropping substantially in subsequent years. Costs
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are due to increased staffing needs, postage, and IT
development.
1)The SOS estimates General Fund costs of up to $100,000 for
assisting VRAs with voter registration services, and for
following up with VRAs and county election officials not
complying with the provisions of SB 35.
2)County elections offices should see minor and absorbable
costs, as many already have automated systems that can expand
to comport with the requirements of SB 35.
3)The Employment Development Department (EDD), which provides
services in person, by phone, by mail, and online, estimates
annual General Fund costs of $18.6 million. Those costs will
fund staffing to provide voter registration services and
postage to mail voter registration materials to customers
served via phone or mail. EDD will also likely incur
first-year costs in the low millions of dollars to upgrade IT
systems.
4)CSU states that if SB 35 only requires its campuses to provide
students with an opportunity to register to vote when
enrolling or accessing a variety of frequently used online
portals, it is already in compliance with SB 35. If, however,
a more expansive definition of "service or assistance" is
used, CSU will face new costs. Assuming a half-time position
at each of CSU's 23 campuses creates a total cost of $800,000.
5)The community college system estimates that each of its 112
campuses will require a half-time position to handle new voter
registration responsibilities, for a total General Fund
(Proposition 98) reimbursable cost of $3.9 million.
6)High schools will likely see fewer new responsibilities than
community college campuses because they have fewer voting-age
students. Assuming a one-third position at each of
California's 1,290 public high schools, high schools will see
annual General Fund (Proposition 98) costs of $36.7 million.
Assuming a one-quarter position at each of the 82 high school
district offices adds an additional $1.8 million annually.
7)The Department of Aging estimates that each of the 33 Area
Agencies on Aging would require a one-quarter position to
handle new voter registration responsibilities. Staffing,
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postage, and IT costs bring the total annual General Fund cost
for CDA to $5.6 million.
8)The Board of Equalization (BOE) was designated a VRA shortly
after the passage of the National Voter Registration Act of
1993 (NVRA) and thus faces expanded duties under SB 35 instead
of entirely new ones. BOE estimates costs of up to $90,000 in
2012-13, $51,000 in 2013-14, and $30,000 every year
thereafter. These costs are attributable to training staff and
adapting BOE's IT infrastructure to satisfy the online voter
registration provisions of the bill.
9)The Franchise Tax Board was also designated a VRA after the
passage of the NVRA. It estimates first-year costs of $500,000
to $1.2 million, and costs of $50,000 to $350,000 every year
thereafter.
10)A small number of additional agencies, servicing
comparatively fewer Californians, are also affected by SB 35.
Annual costs incurred due to SB 35 by these additional
agencies would likely be in the low millions of dollars.
COMMENTS
1)Background and Purpose : According to the author:
"Congress enacted the National Voter Registration Act of 1993
("NVRA" or the "Motor Voter Act"), to enhance voting
opportunities for every American?. A lesser known provision of
the Motor Voter Act requires states to provide individuals the
opportunity to register to vote or to change their voter
registration data when applying for, or receiving, services at
state public assistance offices as designated by the state.
These designated agencies are known as Voter Registration
Agencies."
"Following the passage of the NVRA, Governor Pete Wilson
designated the minimum number of agencies, two, as voter
registration agencies as required by the law. Since 1994, no
additional agencies have been designated Voter Registration
Agencies despite California's discretionary authority to do
so. Thus, multiple state agencies in California, some of which
did not even exist in 1994 and that together process millions
of applications for public benefits each year, have yet to be
designated voter registration agencies."
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"The need for stronger compliance with Ýthe NVRA] is
demonstrated by the number of unregistered voters in
California, especially among low-income citizens. Since the
implementation of NVRA there has been an 87% decline in the
amount of registration applications collected by California
Voter Registration Agencies."
In California, the following state and local offices are
already designated as VRAs: Department of Motor Vehicles, a
number of public assistance agencies (including County Human
Service Agencies), State-funded agencies primarily serving
persons with disabilities, Armed Forces Recruitment offices,
Franchise Tax Board, and Board of Equalization.
2)Amendments . The author's most recent amendments to SB 35
remove a number of provisions that would have made the bill
difficult to implement. For example, a requirement that the
SOS audit a VRA if a VRA fails to timely submit a required
report has been replaced by an option to do so. Another
amendment eliminated a requirement that non-profits
contracting with a VRA provide voter registration services.
3)Definition of Service or Assistance . SB 35 does not define
what kind of service or assistance would require a VRA to
provide a citizen with a voter registration card. For example,
it is not clear if a community college student seeing a
faculty member for academic advisement would meet the
definition of seeking a service, or if a CSU student going to
the Student Health Center for a medical appointment would meet
that definition. Moreover, in a single visit to a state office
a citizen may seek a service or assistance a number of times.
Following the letter of the law would require VRAs to provide
citizens with several opportunities to register to vote in a
single day.
4)State Mandates. The 2011-12 and 2012-13 Budget Acts suspended
various state mandates, including all six existing
election-related mandates. In light of this action and
continuing budget challenges, the committee may wish to
consider whether it is desirable to create new election
mandates.
Analysis Prepared by : Jonathan Stein / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
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