BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 397
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 397 (Yee)
As Amended August 26, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :25-14
ELECTIONS 5-2 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bonilla, Gatto, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Mendoza, Swanson | |Bradford, Charles |
| | | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Logue, Valadao |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Permits online voter registration to begin prior to
the completion of a new statewide voter registration database,
if certain conditions are met. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the
Secretary of State (SOS) to develop a process and the
infrastructure to allow the electronic copy of the signature
of a person who is registering to vote to be transferred to
the SOS and to county election management systems to allow a
person who is qualified to register to vote in California to
register to vote electronically on the Internet Web site of
the SOS.
2)Permits online voter registration to begin, pursuant to
conditions outlined in existing law, on the date that either
of the following occurs:
a) The SOS certifies that the state has a statewide voter
registration database that complies with the requirements
of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA); or,
b) The SOS executes a declaration stating that the
following conditions have occurred:
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i) The United States Elections Assistance Commission
has approved the use of HAVA funding to provide online
voter registration in advance of the deployment of the
statewide voter registration database, or other federal
funding is available and approved for the same purpose;
ii) The DMV and the SOS have developed a process and the
infrastructure necessary to transfer the electronic copy
of a person's signature from the DMV to the SOS and to
county election management systems; and,
iii) All county election management systems have been
modified to receive and store electronic voter
registration information received from the SOS in order
to allow a person to register to vote pursuant to this
bill.
3)Exempts the SOS from various information technology
requirements, and from project and funding approvals, for the
purposes of implementing this bill as expeditiously as
possible.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)One-time costs of around $250,000 to the DMV, and one-time
costs of $150,000 and ongoing costs of $40,000 to the SOS to
develop and maintain online voter registration capability
prior to implementation of the statewide voter registration
database. Per the bill's requirements, these costs would have
to be covered by federal funds.
2)To the extent this bill results in the availability of online
voter registration sooner than the expected completion of the
statewide voter registration database, and significant numbers
of registrants use this option, the SOS, DMV, and counties
will more quickly realize significant and ongoing savings from
reduced paper processing of voter registrations.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "ÝC]urrent law allows voters
to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically
under Elections Code § 2196 once the statewide online database
known as VoteCal is implemented. Unfortunately, VoteCal is
delayed until at least 2015. In the 21st century, especially
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here in California, it is long overdue to have online voter
registration. SB 397 will not only help protect the integrity of
the vote, but will allow many more individuals the opportunity
to register and participate in our democracy."
On October 29, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the Help
America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 (116 STAT. 1666, Public Law
107-252). Among other provisions, HAVA requires every state to
implement a computerized statewide voter registration list. To
fully comply with the requirements of HAVA, the state is in the
process of developing a new statewide voter registration system
known as VoteCal.
Since the plans for VoteCal were developed, the Legislature has
approved a number of bills that sought to take advantage its
capabilities. One of those bills was SB 381 (Ron Calderon),
Chapter 613, Statutes of 2008, which will allow a person to
register to vote on the SOS's Internet Web site if he or she has
a valid California driver's license or state identification
card. SB 381 will not become operative until VoteCal has been
deployed. According to information provided to the Legislature
when it was considering SB 381, online voter registration is
expected to save the state and counties a significant amount of
money by reducing costs for printing, processing, and data input
from paper voter registration forms. Additionally, online voter
registration is expected to improve the accuracy of the voter
registration rolls while making voter registration more
convenient for many voters. At the time the Legislature was
considering SB 381, VoteCal was expected to be deployed by 2010.
However, since that time, delays in the procurement process
pushed back the estimated completion date for the VoteCal system
to 2015. This bill would allow online voter registration to
proceed outside of the development of the VoteCal system,
provided that adjustments are made to existing systems that
allow the SOS to obtain an electronic copy of the signature from
the DMV of each person attempting to register to vote online,
and to transmit that signature to the county elections official.
This bill may help accelerate the availability of online voter
registration, and thus accelerate the cost savings and other
benefits from deploying such a system.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
SB 397
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Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094FN: 0002178