BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 149
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 23, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 149 (Weber) - As Amended: April 10, 2013
SUBJECT : Voting rights: inmates and persons formerly
incarcerated.
SUMMARY : Requires local and state agencies, as specified, to
provide voter rights guides and affidavits of registration to
incarcerated or formerly incarcerated persons, as specified.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes Legislative findings that many people with criminal
convictions, whether those presently serving a sentence or
those who have completed their sentences, are unaware that
they may be eligible to vote. Declares the intent of the
Legislature to encourage the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR), county jails, and county probation
departments to provide voter eligibility information and
affidavits of registration to eligible voters.
2)Requires the CDCR, with respect to each parolee under its
jurisdiction, to do the following upon the completion of his
or her parole:
a) Provide the parolee with the most recent version of the
Secretary of State's (SOS) voting rights guide for
incarcerated persons;
b) Inform the parolee, at the time the parolee is provided
the guide described above, that he or she may be eligible
to vote; and,
c) Provide the parolee with an affidavit of registration.
3)Requires each county jail to provide the most recent version
of the SOS voting rights guide for incarcerated persons to
each inmate and, at the request of an inmate who is an
eligible voter, a voter registration affidavit.
4)Requires each county probation department, with respect to
each person under its supervision, to do the following:
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a) Provide the person with the most recent version of the
SOS's voting rights guide for incarcerated persons;
b) Inform the person, at the time the person is provided
the guide described above, that he or she may be eligible
to vote; and,
c) Provide the person, upon the person's request, an
affidavit of registration if the person is eligible to
register to vote.
5)Requires the CDCR, county jails, and county probation
departments to obtain affidavits of registration from county
elections officials and the voting rights guide from the SOS.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Specifies that in order to be eligible to vote, an individual
must be a United States citizen, a resident of California, not
in prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony, not
deemed mentally incompetent, and at least 18 years of age at
the time of the next election.
2)Requires the election board of each county, in order to
promote and encourage voter registration, to establish a
sufficient number of registration places throughout the
county, and outside the county courthouse, for the convenience
of person desiring to register to vote.
3)Requires the SOS to adopt regulations requiring each county to
design and implement programs to identify qualified
individuals who are not registered voters and to register
those individuals to vote.
4)Requires the county elections official to cancel the voter
registration of a person upon proof that the person is
presently imprisoned or on parole for conviction of a felony.
5)Requires the clerk of the superior court of each county to
notify the county elections official twice a year of those
persons that have been convicted of a felony since the clerk's
last report.
6)Requires the facility administrator of a local detention
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facility to develop written policies and procedures whereby
the county registrar of voters allows qualified voters to vote
in local, state, and federal elections.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. State-mandated local program; contains
reimbursement direction.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
AB 149 would ensure that persons involved in the criminal
justice system are given accurate information about their
voting rights and are afforded the opportunity to
participate in the civic life of their communities by
requiring: (1) that the Department of Corrections provide
every parolee voter registration information upon the
completion of their parole; (2) that county probation
departments provide every eligible person under their
supervision with voter registration information; and (3)
that county sheriffs provide voter registration information
to every eligible inmate of a county jail.
As of 2010, California ranked 45th in the nation in voter
registration. In the 2012 presidential election, less than
50% of eligible voters in California cast a ballot.
Presently, nearly 6 million eligible voters in the state
remain unregistered to vote.
Additionally, a study by the Sentencing Project, a
Washington research and advocacy group, found that 37
percent of public officials surveyed in 10 states either
misstated a central provision of the voter eligibility law
or were unsure about what the law said.
Among the millions of unregistered voters in California are
people who mistakenly believe they are ineligible to vote
due to a criminal charge or conviction. Despite the fact
that civic participation can be a critical component of
re-entry and has been linked to reduced recidivism, persons
involved in our criminal justice system are not apprised of
their voting rights nor is accurate voter information
readily accessible to them. Instead, rumors and
misinformation abound, and even from courts, public
defenders and elections officials often give out incorrect
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information about eligibility. For example, in a phone
survey conducted immediately prior to the 2012 presidential
election, one in three elections offices, including the
Secretary of State's office, could not provide correct
information about voting with a felony conviction.
The result is that thousands of eligible voters are
unregistered to vote and effectively deprived of the
opportunity to exercise their fundamental right to vote on
issues critical to them and the lives of their families:
school board races, school funding initiatives, statewide
ballot initiatives, and many other important races that
directly impact their communities. Given the racial
disparities in our criminal justice system, the lack of
accurate voter registration information has a particularly
disparate impact on communities of color in California.
Policies that result in the potential voting
disfranchisement of people who have paid their debt to
society offend fundamental tenets of democracy. The problem
is only exacerbated when state and local election officials
who are most likely misinformed about the law operate based
on that misinformation or turn away people who have a legal
right to vote.
Given the confusion among those responsible for
administering the law, it is no surprise that people who
are legally entitled to vote either don't try out of fear
that they would be committing a crime, have misconceptions
as it relates to the law, or are wrongly turned away.
By offering voter registration to the thousands of eligible
voters who pass through our criminal justice system, the
state will be taking an important step toward increasing
its dismal voter registration rate. AB 149 compliments and
enhances current practice by providing accurate voting
rights information and voter registration cards to all
eligible individuals. Additionally, the public welfare and
safety of our communities will be enhanced by the civic
participation of all eligible voters, which includes those
who are attempting to successfully re-enter their
communities.
2)Facilitating Voter Registration : According to statistics from
the SOS's website, currently there are nearly six million
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eligible voters in the state that remain unregistered to vote.
Consequently, efforts to encourage and improve voter
registration have been a focus of varying legislative
proposals over past legislative sessions.
This bill focuses on a specific sector of the electorate - those
there are currently or formerly incarcerated - and requires
the CDCR, county jails and county probation departments to
provide voter eligibility information and affidavits of
registration to eligible voters. On the local level, existing
law requires the facility administrator of each local
detention facility to adopt written policies and procedures
whereby the county registrar of voters allows those qualified
voters in the detention facility to vote. Despite that fact
that these procedures are adopted at each facility and
therefore may not result in uniformity across the state, they
are currently in place and provide inmates at the detention
facility with information regarding their voting rights.
Additionally, on the state level, when an inmate or parolee is
released from the custody of the CDCR, that person is given a
Certificate of Discharge. Among the information on the
Certificate of Discharge is the following statement:
"An ex-felon becomes eligible to vote after being discharged
from parole. You may obtain a Voter Registration Card by
contacting the Elections Division of the California Secretary
of State's Office at (800) 345-VOTE (800-345-8683)."
Given that inmates in local detention facilities are already
provided information about how to register and vote, and given
that inmates and parolees released from the custody of the
CDCR are given information on their right to vote upon being
discharged from parole, the necessity of this bill is unclear.
Conversely, while some of the provisions of this bill may
seem duplicative, one group of individuals addressed by this
bill, which does not seem to be addressed by current law, are
those individuals on probation at the county level. This bill
will ensure those individuals are informed of their voting
rights and receive affidavits of registration upon request.
Additionally, this bill has the potential to provide some
consistently across the state and ensure that those
incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, whether on the local
or state level, are provided with the same information
regarding their voting rights.
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3)States and Felon Disenfranchisement : According to the
Sentencing Project's 2012 report entitled "State-Level
Estimates of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States,
2010," 48 states prohibit inmates from voting while
incarcerated for felony offense. Only Maine and Vermont
permit inmates who are incarcerated for a felony offense to
vote. California is one of 35 states that also prohibits
felons from voting while they are on parole, and is one of 18
states that allows people on probation for a felony to vote.
Individuals imprisoned in the county jail for misdemeanor
offenses are eligible to vote in California. Furthermore,
once an individual completes his or her term of imprisonment
and any period of parole for a felony conviction, that person
is allowed to register to vote again in California.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures'
March 2012 report on felon voting rights, states not only
approach felon disenfranchisement is various ways, but they
also have different ways in which an ex-felons may regain
their voting rights. For example, in Florida, Iowa,
Kentucky, and Virginia, felons and ex-felons permanently lose
their right to vote absent a pardon from the governor. In 38
states and the District of Columbia, most ex-felons
automatically gain the right to vote upon the completion of
their sentence. In some states, ex-felons must wait for a
certain period of time after the completion of their sentence
before rights can be restored, and in other states, an
ex-felon must apply to have voting rights restored. The
report states that even in states where ex-offenders
automatically regain the right to vote upon completion of
their sentence, the process of re-registering to vote is often
difficult for a variety of reasons. One of the main obstacles
is the complexity of the laws and processes surrounding
disenfranchisement. Additionally, there can be inconsistent
communication between agencies which can result in uneven
applications of the law. Moreover, the lack of information
can cause many ex-offenders to be unaware that they regained
their voting rights upon the completion of their sentence or
what steps they must take to regain their voting rights.
Finally, under-funding of parole boards in some states can
cause massive application backlogs.
The report states that nationwide, recent state legislation has
sought to expand felon voting rights and ease the process of
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restoration. Between 1996 and 2008, 28 states passed the
following new laws on felon voting rights: seven states
repealed lifetime disenfranchisement laws, at least for some
ex-offenders, two states gave probationers the right to vote,
seven states improved data-sharing procedures among state
agencies, nine states passed requirements that ex-offenders be
given information and/or assistance in regaining their voting
rights at the time they complete their sentence, and 12 states
simplified the process for regaining voting rights, for
instance, by eliminating a waiting period or streamlining the
paperwork process.
4)Arguments in Support : The Greenlining Institute, a co-sponsor
of this measure, writes in support:
[C]alifornia ranks among the lowest states in the nation
for voter registration: 45th to be exact, with 6 million
eligible citizens currently unregistered. According to a CA
Dept. of Corrections and the Bureau of Justice Statistics,
in 2010, the population that was on parole or probation was
about 312,000 people, more than 5% of our total
unregistered citizens. If all of these citizens were
notified about their right to vote, many more would in fact
register.
The problem is, current law does not require probation or
parole officers to notify people of their right to vote.
Consequently, former felons often believe they are
ineligible to vote and misinformation is rampant. AB 149
would promote voting rights by requiring the Dept. of
Corrections, including parole and probation officers, to
notify persons upon release of their eligibility to vote,
and to specifically provide them with a voter registration
affidavit and the guide to voting rights for inmates and
former felons, which is produced by the Secretary of State.
5)Previous Legislation : AB 821 (Ridley-Thomas) of 2005, would
have required information about voting be provided to certain
state and local inmates. AB 821 failed passage of the Senate
Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional Amendments
Committee.
6)Related Legislation : AB 938 (Weber), which is pending in this
committee, would provide that a person is excluded from voter
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eligibility if he or she is in state prison or on state parole
for the conviction of a felony, and specify that state parole
does not include a person on postrelease community supervision
or mandatory supervision.
7)State Mandates : The 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 state budgets
included the suspension of various state mandates as a
mechanism for cost savings. Included on the list of
suspensions were all six existing elections-related mandates.
All the existing elections-related mandates have been proposed
for suspension again by the Governor in his budget for the
2013-2014 fiscal year. The Committee may wish to consider
whether it is desirable to create new election mandates when
current elections-related mandates are suspended.
8)Double Referral : On April 16, 2013, the Assembly Public
Safety Committee approved this bill on a 5-2 vote.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Greenling Institute (Sponsor)
A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing)
American Civil Liberties Union of California
Broken No More
California Association of Nonprofits
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Public Defenders Association
Center for Living and Learning
Drug Policy Alliance
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Project Vote
Rock the Vote
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
Tarzana Treatment Centers, Inc.
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
AB 149
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319-2094