BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Norma J. Torres, Chair
BILL NO: AB 149 HEARING DATE: 7/2/13
AUTHOR: WEBER ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 5/24/13
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Voting rights: county probation departments
DESCRIPTION
Existing law 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.
Existing law 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 a person desiring to register to vote.
Existing law requires the Secretary of State (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.
Existing law requires the facility administrator of a local
detention facility to develop written policies and procedures
whereby the county registrar of voters allows qualified voters
to vote in local, state, and federal elections.
This bill requires each county probation department to either:
a) Establish and maintain on its Internet Web site a hyperlink
to the SOS's Internet Web site that contains where the voting
rights guide for incarcerated persons may be found; or,
b) Post, in each office where probationers are seen, a notice
that contains the Internet Web site address at which the
SOS's voting rights guide for incarcerated persons may be
found.
AB 149 (WEBER)
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BACKGROUND
Criminal Justice Realignment & Inmate Voting Eligibility : In
2011, California passed a series of bills known as the Criminal
Justice Realignment Act. Prior to realignment, most felony
sentences were served in state prison. Under realignment,
certain lower-level felony offenders, who would have been
sentenced to state prison, are now sentenced to serve their time
in custody in county jail. Additionally, after release from
custody and depending on the offense and sentence, realignment
created the option of an inmate to be released to a term of
post-release community supervision (under the control of the
local probation department) or mandatory supervision.
With the enactment of realignment, the SOS's office issued a
memorandum to determine its impact on voting eligibility. The
SOS's office concluded that realignment "does not change the
voting status of offenders convicted of [realignment]-defined
low-level felonies, either because they serve their felony
sentences in county jail instead of state prison or because the
mandatory supervision that is a condition of their release from
prison is labeled something other than 'parole.' Offenders
convicted of [realignment]-defined low-level felonies continue
to be disqualified from voting while serving a felony sentence
in county jail, while at the discretion of the court serving a
concluding portion of that term on county-supervised probation,
or while they remain under mandatory 'post release community
supervision' after release from state prison." (Cal. Sect. of
State Off., Voter Registration: Status of Persons Convicted
Under State's New Criminal Justice Realignment Statutes,
Memorandum # 11134 (Dec. 5, 2011).)
Consequently, the SOS revised the language on the California
voter registration form and requires a person to attest under
penalty of perjury the following:
I am a U.S. citizen and will be at least 18 years old on
election day. I am not in prison, on parole, serving a
state prison sentence in county jail, serving a sentence
for a felony pursuant to subdivision (h) of Penal Code
section 1170, or on post release community supervision.
I understand that it is a crime to intentionally provide
incorrect information on this form. I declare under
penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of
AB 149 (WEBER)
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California that the information on this form is true and
correct.
(Cal. Sect. of State Off., Voter Registration: New Felon
Eligibility Language, Memorandum # 13023 (Feb. 25, 2013).)
Moreover, to reflect the opinion of the SOS's office, the
voter's rights guide for incarcerated persons currently states
that inmates in county jail serving a state prison sentence or a
felony sentence under Penal Code section 1170(h) or on parole,
mandatory supervision, or post release are ineligible to vote.
AB 149 (WEBER)
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COMMENTS
1. According to the Author : AB 149 aims to 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 each county probation
department to do one of the following: (a) Establish and
maintain on the county probation department's Internet Web
site a hyperlink to the Internet Web site at which the SOS's
voting rights guide for incarcerated persons may be found.
(b) Post, in each probation office where probationers are
seen, a notice that contains the Internet Web site address
at which the SOS's voting rights guide for incarcerated
persons may be found.
In a phone survey conducted immediately prior to the 2012
presidential election, one in three elections offices could
not provide correct information about voting with a felony
conviction.
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.
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.
We know that countless reports such as Uggen & Manza's study
of voting rights and recidivism as well as Brennan Center
for Justice and Democracy's Voting Rights Restoration study
have echoed the sentiment that there is a strong correlation
between voting and reduced recidivism. By offering voter
registration information 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 (WEBER)
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AB 149 compliments and enhances current practice by providing
accurate voting rights information. 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. Related Legislation : AB 938 (Weber) 2013, requires the
clerk of the superior court in each county, when furnishing
the elections official with a list of persons who have been
convicted of felonies, to include the last four digits of
the social security number (SSN) of each person, if
available, along with other specified information. AB 938
is also scheduled to be heard by this Committee today.
AB 821 (Ridley-Thomas) of 2005, would have required county
elections officials to provide affidavits of registration
and copies of the "Guide to Inmate Voting" to state and
local detention facilities so that those detention
facilities could notify specified individuals of their right
to vote. AB 821 failed passage in the Senate Elections,
Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Public Safety Committee: 5-2
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 5-2
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-5
Assembly Floor: 62-13
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Advancement Project
American Civil Liberties Union of California
A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment & Healing)
Broken No More
California Association of Nonprofits
California Attorneys for Criminal Justice
California Common Cause
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Public Defenders Association
AB 149 (WEBER)
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Center for Living and Learning
Drug Policy Alliance
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
Rock the Vote
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project
Tarzana Treatment Centers, Inc.
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
Oppose: None received
AB 149 (WEBER)
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