BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 149 (Weber) - Voting Rights
Amended: May 24, 2013 Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 12, 2013
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 149 requires county probation departments to
either establish a hyperlink on its Internet Web site to the
Secretary of State's (SOS) voting rights guide for incarcerated
persons, or to post a notice that contains the SOS Web site
address where the voting rights guide can be found.
Fiscal Impact:
Unknown, potentially minor admin costs (General)
Although this bill is a state mandate and costs are potentially
reimbursable from the General Fund, the county probation
departments have indicated very minor, absorbable costs for
complying with the notice requirement.
Background: 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.
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.
AB 149 (Weber)
Page 1
With the enactment of realignment, the Secretary of State 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).)
Proposed Law: AB 149 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 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.
Staff Comments: Due to passage of realignment, the SOS revised
the language on the California voter registration form that
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
AB 149 (Weber)
Page 2
penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of
California that the information on this form is true and
correct.
The SOS also updated the voting rights guide to clarify that any
person serving a state prison sentence in a county jail, or is
on parole, mandatory supervision, or subject to mandatory post
release community supervision is ineligible to vote.