BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1038
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 17, 2013

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                  AB 1038 (Pan) - As Introduced:  February 22, 2013 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:5-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill makes it a misdemeanor for a person or entity to pay  
          someone for assisting another person to register to vote with a  
          certain political party if the payment is on a per-registration  
          basis.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor non-reimbursable costs, offset to some extent by fine  
          revenues for violations of the bill's provision.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background and Purpose  . While some voter registration drives  
            pay employees on an hourly or salaried basis, others pay  
            workers a specified amount of money for each completed voter  
            registration card, which in some cases, only pays workers for  
            voters who register with a specific political party, or pays a  
            larger amount of money for voters who register with a specific  
            political party.  While these per-registration payments may  
            create incentives to register voters with a particular  
            political party, they also may create financial incentives for  
            the individuals who are registering voters to commit fraud.

            In each of the last four election cycles, complaints have been  
            filed by voters who said they were misled into changing their  
            party affiliations.  According to media reports of these  
            complaints, the voter registration workers who were accused of  
            misleading these voters were paid as much as $15 for each new  
            voter that the worker registered with a particular political  
            party-a practice that would be prohibited under this bill.









                                                                  AB 1038
                                                                  Page  2

           2)Prior Legislation  . Last session, SB 205 (Correa) and AB 145  
            (Pan) would have prohibited a person from paying or receiving  
            payment for registering voters on a per-affidavit basis. The  
            Governor, doubting the efficacy of these bills and questioning  
            the evidence of fraud, vetoed both bills. AB 1038 is a more  
            narrow approach that prohibits payment on a per-affidavit  
            basis for registering voters with a particular political  
            party.

           3)Opposition  . The American Civil Liberties Union argues, "By  
            making it a crime to pay someone to register voters for a  
            particular political party, the bill may violate the First  
            Amendment and parallel state constitutional protections for  
            speech and association.  Individuals have a constitutional  
            right to support the political party of their choice, and to  
            do so by paying others to encourage voters to register with a  
            particular party."

            It should be reiterated that the bill does not prohibit paying  
            someone a wage or salary to register voters with a certain  
            political party, but rather prohibits payment on a  
            per-affidavit basis.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081