BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                     SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
                            Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
          

          BILL NO:  AB 254                      HEARING:  5/15/13
          AUTHOR:  Dahle                        FISCAL:  No
          VERSION: 2/6/13                       TAX LEVY: No
          CONSULTANT:  Austin                   

                       MODOC COUNTY'S REGISTRAR OF VOTERS 
          

          Authorizes the Modoc County Board of Supervisors to appoint  
          a registrar of voters separate from the county clerk. 


                           Background and Existing Law  

          In most counties, the county clerk is an elected officer  
          who serves both as clerk of the board of supervisors and as  
          registrar of voters. 

          State law authorizes supervisors in 12 counties (El Dorado,  
          Imperial, Kings, Lake, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Napa,  
          Riverside, San Joaquin, Solano, and Tulare) to appoint a  
          registrar of voters separate from the county clerk.   
          Supervisors in seven of those counties separately appoint a  
          registrar of voters.  In Mono County, voters authorized  
          county supervisors to appoint a county  
          clerk-recorder-registrar of voters. 

          The California Constitution allows a county to adopt a  
          voter-approved charter that provides for consolidating and  
          separating county officers and specifies the manner of  
          filling vacant county offices.  

          Modoc County is a general law county located in the  
          northeast corner of California, bounded by the state of  
          Oregon to the north and Nevada to the east.  As of the 2010  
          U.S. census, its population was 9,686.  The Modoc County  
          Board of Supervisors is the governing body of the county  
          and a number of special districts. 

          In 2011, Imperial County was added to the list of counties  
          authorized to appoint a registrar of voters separate from  
          the county clerk (SB 66, Vargas, 2011).  Modoc County seeks  
          the same authority.  





          AB 254  -- 2/6/13 -- Page 2




                                   Proposed Law 

          Senate Bill 254 authorizes the Modoc County Board of  
          Supervisors to appoint a registrar of voters separate from  
          the county clerk.


                               State Revenue Impact
           
          No estimate.


                                     Comments  

          1.   Purpose of the bill  .  As a small county with limited  
          resources, the Modoc County Board of Supervisors is looking  
          for ways to better serve their community, be efficient, and  
          save money.  One way to reduce costs is to allow the Board  
          of Supervisors to appoint a registrar of voters.  Modoc  
          County supervisors want the Legislature to grant them the  
          same statutory authority to appoint a registrar of voters  
          that it has granted to 12 other counties.

          2.   Home rule  .  By adopting a county charter, local voters  
          can empower their county supervisors to appoint a registrar  
          of voters to act as the county's elections officer; they  
          don't need to wait for the Legislature to act.  Rather than  
          pursue legislation, the Board of Supervisors could put a  
          measure on the ballot.  The Committee may wish to consider  
          whether Modoc County voters should get to decide whether  
          the responsibility for Modoc County's elections should be  
          transferred from an elected official to an appointed  
          official.



                         Support and Opposition  (5/9/13)

           Support  :  Modoc County Board of Supervisors; Rural County  
          Representatives of California (RCRC).

           Opposition  :  Unknown.








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