BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 938
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 938 (Weber)
As Amended May 20, 2013
Majority vote
ELECTIONS 5-1
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bocanegra, Bonta, | | |
| |Hall, Weber | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Donnelly | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : 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 the other information as specified.
Requires a county elections official to cancel the affidavit of
registration of each person who is currently imprisoned or on
state parole for the conviction of a felony whose name, address,
date of birth, and, if available, the last four digits of his or
her SSN, is the same as reported on the court clerk's statement.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the Legislature to provide for the disqualification
of electors while imprisoned or on parole for the conviction
of a felony.
2)Requires the clerk of the superior court in each county to
furnish the chief elections official of the county, not less
frequently than the first day of April and the first day of
September of each year, with a statement showing the names,
addresses, and dates of birth of all persons who have been
convicted of felonies since the clerk's last report.
FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "[C]onfusion results from
the lack of clear guidance regarding the information courts must
send to elections officials regarding the eligibility of persons
AB 938
Page 2
with a criminal conviction. The lack of accurate and complete
information undermines elections officials' best efforts to
maintain the integrity of their voter files. As a result, voter
files may be over-purged (wrongfully disenfranchising eligible
voters) or under-purged (allowing those who are ineligible to
mistakenly register to vote). The integrity of our voting
system depends on the accuracy of our voter rolls and the
protection of every eligible person's right to vote."
AB 742 (Salda�a) of 2009, which was similar to certain
provisions of this bill, would have required 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 only persons who have been sentenced to
state prison, instead of including all persons who were
convicted of felonies, whether they were sentenced to prison or
not. Governor Schwarzenegger voted this measure, stating that
"[s]uperior [c]ourt clerks throughout the state have worked with
local elections officials to provide this information in a
format that is most appropriate for their jurisdiction.
Therefore this bill is unnecessary."
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094
FN: 0000657