BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 205
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          Date of Hearing:   July 5, 2011

                  ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
                                  Paul Fong, Chair
                  SB 205 (Correa) - As Introduced:  February 8, 2011

           SENATE VOTE  :   24-15
           
          SUBJECT  :   Voter registration: paid registration activities.

           SUMMARY  :   Prohibits a person from paying another person or 
          receiving payment for registering voters if that payment is on a 
          per-affidavit basis.  Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to offer to pay or to pay 
            money or other valuable consideration to another person, 
            either directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis to 
            assist another person to register to vote by receiving the 
            completed affidavit of registration.

          2)Makes it a misdemeanor for a person to receive money or other 
            valuable consideration, either directly or indirectly, on a 
            per-affidavit basis to assist another person to register to 
            vote by receiving the completed affidavit of registration.

          3)Provides that nothing in this bill shall be construed to 
            prohibit payment for assisting another person to register to 
            vote by receiving the completed affidavit that is not, either 
            directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis.

          4)Makes corresponding and technical changes.

           EXISTING LAW  : 

          1)Requires any person who accepts money or other valuable 
            consideration in return for assisting with voter registration 
            to sign and affix on the voter registration form his or her 
            full name, telephone number, address, and the name and phone 
            number of the person, company, or organization, if any, that 
            agrees to pay money or valuable consideration for the 
            completed affidavit of registration.

          2)Requires any person, company, or other organization that 
            agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a 








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            person for assisting with voter registration to maintain 
            specific records.

          3)Establishes penalties for fraudulent activity related to 
            signature gathering and voter registration.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Senate Appropriations 
          Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. 
           State-mandated local program; contains a crimes and infractions 
          disclaimer.










































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           COMMENTS :   

           1)Purpose of the Bill  :  According to the author:

               Individuals who are paid to register voters or to collect 
               petition signatures are commonly known as "bounty hunters."

               Between 1994 and 2010 the Secretary of State's Election 
               Fraud Investigation Unit opened 960 cases for fraudulent 
               voter registration or for the illegal altering of party 
               affiliation on voter registration cards. Out of these, 99 
               were referred to district attorneys for prosecution, 
               resulting in 64 convictions.

               As recently as 2010, Orange County and other county 
               elections officials have received hundreds of complaints 
               from voters who were re-registered with a political party 
               without their permission. According to press reports, the 
               companies in charge of these registration drives have paid 
               workers as much as $8-$10 for every completed voter 
               registration card. 

               SB 205 would prohibit paying voter registration "bounty 
               hunters" on a per affidavit basis. A violation would 
               constitute a misdemeanor?.

               ÝT]his bill does not prohibit payment for assisting people 
               to register.  It only prohibits payment on a per-affidavit 
               basis.  Individuals could still be paid hourly, daily, or 
               in any other fashion.

               At least five other states, including Colorado, Missouri, 
               Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin have similar laws 
               on the books.

               Every election cycle yields another crop of individuals who 
               abuse our voter registration laws -- party affiliations get 
               changed, names are forged, and people are duped into 
               registering even if they are ineligible.

               This bill will help eliminate the incentive to commit this 
               type of fraud by prohibiting payment to bounty hunters on a 
               per-affidavit basis.









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           2)Voter Registration Fraud :  While some voter registration 
            drives pay employees on an hourly or salaried basis, other 
            voter registration drives pay workers a specified amount of 
            money for each completed voter registration card.  In some 
            cases, voter registration drives that pay workers on a 
            per-registration basis only pay workers for voters who 
            register with a specific political party, or pay the workers a 
            larger amount of money for voters who register with a specific 
            political party.  While these per-registration payments may 
            create incentives to register voters with a particular 
            political party, they also may create financial incentives for 
            the individuals who are registering voters to commit fraud.

          In each of the last three election cycles, complaints have been 
            filed by voters who said they were misled into changing their 
            party affiliations.  According to media reports of these 
            complaints, the voter registration workers who were accused of 
            misleading these voters were paid as much as $15 for each new 
            voter that the worker registered with a particular political 
            party.  
          In 2006, complaints were reported in Orange, Riverside, and San 
            Bernardino Counties.  According to the Orange County Register, 
            11 individuals were eventually convicted of falsifying voter 
            registrations and other charges in connection with the 
            complaints in Orange County, and eight of those 11 served jail 
            time.  In 2008, press reports focused on similar complaints in 
            Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties, 
            while in 2010, complaints were filed in Orange and Sacramento 
            Counties.  In every instance, media reports of the complaints 
            indicated that the firms that were conducting the voter 
            registration drives or the individuals who were registering 
            voters as part of those drives were being paid on a 
            per-registration basis.

            In all, according to the Secretary of State's Election Fraud 
            Investigation Unit (EFIU), between 1994 and 2010, the EFIU 
            opened 960 cases for fraudulent voter registration or 
            fraudulently altering party affiliation on voter registration 
            cards.  Out of these, 99 were referred to district attorneys 
            for prosecution, resulting in 64 convictions.  Since the EFIU 
            was created in 1994, it has opened more cases, and a larger 
            number of convictions have been obtained, for voter 
            registration fraud than for any other election crime.









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           3)Other States  :  At least 11 states (Colorado, Florida, Georgia, 
            Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, 
            Washington, and Wisconsin) have laws prohibiting payments for 
            registering voters if those payments are based on the number 
            of registrations obtained.  Ohio similarly had a law that 
            prohibited payments for registering voters if those payments 
            were based on anything other than time worked.  Ohio's law 
            also prohibited payments for collecting signatures on election 
            petitions if the payments were based on anything other than 
            time worked.  The Ohio law was struck down by the Sixth 
            Circuit Court of Appeals in  Citizens for Tax Reform et al. v. 
            Deters et al.  (2008), 518 F.3d 375.  However, while the Court 
            struck down the entire Ohio law, including the provisions 
            regarding payments for registering voters, the Court's 
            decision focused on the portion of the law governing payments 
            for collecting signatures on petitions, and did not include 
            substantive discussion about the restrictions on payments for 
            voter registration.

           4)Labor Law Implications  :  This bill prohibits the payment of 
            individuals on a per-piece basis for voter registration.  
            Typically, in California, individuals who are paid to register 
            voters on a per-piece basis are independent contractors.  
            However, to the extent that this bill forces individuals who 
            are paid to register voters to be paid an hourly wage, this 
            bill could also result in these individuals being considered 
            employees under California law.  As such, the individual, 
            corporation, or group paying individuals to register voters 
            may be required to pay minimum wage, provide workers 
            compensation insurance and unemployment insurance for its 
            employees, and maintain a payroll system.

           5)Increased Costs  :  As noted in comment #4, individuals or 
            groups paying people to register voters may be required to 
            provide certain benefits such as unemployment insurance and 
            workers compensation insurance.  This may result in higher 
            costs to those groups that pay individuals to register voters. 
             In addition, prohibiting payment of individuals on a 
            per-registration basis could increase costs because it may 
            become more difficult to measure the work product of employees 
            who are being paid to register voters.  Potential increased 
            costs may be partially offset if, by reducing the incentive to 
            submit fraudulent registrations, this legislation results in 
            individuals submitting fewer invalid registrations.








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           6)Related Legislation  :  SB 168 (Corbett), which is pending in 
            the Assembly Appropriations Committee, would prohibit a person 
            from paying another person or from being paid based on the 
            number of signatures obtained on an initiative, referendum, or 
            recall petition.  SB 168 was approved by this committee on a 
            5-2 vote.  
           
           7)Previous Legislation  :  SB 812 (Correa) of 2007, was similar to 
            this bill.  SB 812 was approved by this committee, but 
            subsequently was amended and used for an unrelated purpose.

          AB 2946 (Leno) of 2006, would have prohibited the payment of an 
            individual to register voters if that payment was on a 
            per-registration basis, among other provisions.  AB 2946 was 
            vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger, though his veto message 
            focused on other parts of that bill, and did not address the 
            provisions of the bill that would have prohibited 
            per-registration payments for registering voters.

          AB 2101 (Fong), Chapter 372, Statutes of 2010, permits a court 
            to prevent someone who is convicted of voter registration 
            fraud from being paid to register voters, among other 
            provisions.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
          Secretary of State Debra Bowen
           
            Opposition 
           
          California Libertarian Party
          Coalition for Free and Open Elections
          Green Party of California
          Peace and Freedom Party of California
          One individual

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 











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