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 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |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 | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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: SB 397 Page 2 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 SB 397 Page 3 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 Page 4 Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094FN: 0002178