BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 35| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 35 Author: Padilla (D) Amended: 8/23/12 Vote: 21 PRIOR SENATE VOTES NOT RELEVANT SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS COMMITTEE : 3-2, 8/30/12 (pursuant to Senate Rule 29.10) AYES: Correa, Lieu, Yee NOES: La Malfa, Gaines ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-27, 8/27/12 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Voter registration agencies SOURCE : American Civil Liberties Union DIGEST : This bill adds the California Health Benefit Exchange to the list of public assistance agencies required by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) to provide voter registration opportunities and codifies various other provisions of the NVRA. Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of the bill relating to energy, and replace it with the above language. ANALYSIS : Existing law, the federal National Voter Registration Act of 1993, requires each state to establish procedures to register voters by application in person at CONTINUED SB 35 Page 2 certain federal, state, or nongovernmental agencies designated by state law as voter registration agencies. Existing law also requires the Secretary of State (SOS), in consultation with county elections officials, to design and make available on his/her Internet Web site an affidavit of voter registration. Existing law, the federal NVRA, provides for state departments of motor vehicles to make voter registration information and materials available to an applicant for a driver's license and other vehicular documents. Existing state law provides that a person who is qualified to register to vote and who has a valid California driver's license or state identification card may submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the SOS. Existing state law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles and the SOS to develop a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who is qualified to register to vote in the state to register to vote online. This bill: 1. Defines, for the purposes of this bill, the terms "voter preference form" and "voter registration agency." 2. Requires the SOS to adopt regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this bill and the federal NVRA. 3. Requires a voter registration agency, with each application for service or assistance, to provide to an applicant with a voter preference form and a voter registration card, unless the applicant declines, and to assist the applicant in completing the voter registration card, unless the applicant refuses the assistance. 4. Requires the SOS to coordinate with county elections officials and voter registration agencies to implement this bill, prepare written training materials that describe the responsibilities of a elections officials and voter registration agencies pursuant to the provisions of this bill and the federal NVRA, contact a voter registration agency if the agency is not complying with the requirements of this bill and the federal NVRA, CONTINUED SB 35 Page 3 and coordinate with each state agency that evaluates the performance of an agency designated as a voter registration agency. 5. Requires a county elections official to provide voter registration cards to and conduct training for a voter registration agency upon request of the agency, and to maintain a record of the number of voter registration cards provided to and received from each agency. 6. Requires a voter registration agency to designate an employee to be responsible for the agency's compliance with requirements of this bill, and to take steps to ensure that the agency has a sufficient supply of voter preference forms and voter registration cards available, as specified. Requires each agency to ensure that each employee of the agency, who may provide voter registration services, is trained annually using materials prepared by the SOS. 7. Requires county elections officials to report to the SOS monthly on the number of voter registration cards received from each voter registration agency, and requires the SOS to post the information contained in each report on the SOS's Internet Web site. 8. Requires a voter registration agency that allows a person to apply online for services or assistance, to allow an applicant to electronically submit a voter preference form to the agency, and to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the SOS's Internet Web site in accordance with existing online voter registration provisions of law. 9. Requires a voter registration agency to notify each person who indicates on a voter preference form that he/she would like to register to vote of the methods by which that person may register, as specified. 10.Requires the SOS to take steps to ensure that the electronic affidavit of voter registration is available, and may be electronically submitted and verified, in all languages which a county is required to provide voting materials pursuant to the federal Voting Rights Act of CONTINUED SB 35 Page 4 1965. 11.Requires the California Health Benefit Exchange, no later than July 1, 2014, to implement a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who applies online for service or assistance to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the SOS in accordance with this bill. Comments 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. The Act has made it easier for all Americans to register to vote and to maintain their registration by requiring that individuals be given the opportunity to register to vote or to change their voter registration data when applying for or renewing their driver's license. "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 office 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." FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, minor and absorbable costs to the SOS, county elections offices, CONTINUED SB 35 Page 5 and the California Health Benefit Exchange. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/12) American Civil Liberties Union (source) Asian Americans for Civil Rights & Equality California Association of Clerks and Election Officials California Common Cause California Public Interest Resource Group California State Student Association Demos Disability Rights California Greenlining Institute League of Women Voters Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund Project Vote San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council SEIU California State Council South Bay Labor Council United Farm Workers Working Partnerships ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-27, 08/27/12 AYES: Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Davis, Dickinson, Eng, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Gatto, Gordon, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Lara, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Skinner, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Bill Berryhill, Conway, Cook, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Garrick, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Silva, Smyth, Valadao, Wagner NO VOTE RECORDED: Galgiani DLW:m 8/30/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED SB 35 Page 6 **** END **** CONTINUED