Amended in Senate April 4, 2013

Amended in Senate March 7, 2013

Senate Bill No. 112

Introduced by Senator Monning

January 15, 2013

An act to amend Section 2194 of begin insert , and to add Section 2194.1 to, end insert the Elections Code, relating to voter information.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 112, as amended, Monning. Voter information: public examination.

Existing law sets forth the requirements and procedures for handling the voter registration card and for the specific voter information that is contained therein. Existing law provides that the home address, telephone number, e-mail address, precinct number or other specified number, and prior registration information shown on the voter registration card for all registered voters are confidential and prohibits the disclosure of that information to any person, except as specified.

This bill would require that the above-referenced voter registration card information be available to the public 100 years after the creation of the record. If the records are contained in the great registers of voters and the bound register contains information covering more than one year, the bill would prohibit the public availability of the records until the entire contents of the register have been recorded for at least 100 years. begin insert The bill would make a conforming change to existing law. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 2194 of the Elections Code is amended
to read:

2194.  

(a)  begin delete The end delete begin insert Except as provided in Section 2194.1, the end insert voter
registration card information identified in begin delete subdivision (a) of end delete Section
6254.4 of the Government Code:

(1)  begin delete Except as provided in paragraph (4), shall end delete begin insert Shall end insert be
confidential and shall not appear on any computer terminal, list,
affidavit, duplicate affidavit, or other medium routinely available
to the public at the county elections official’s office.

(2) Shall not be used for any personal, private, or commercial
purpose, including, but not limited to:

(A) The harassment of any voter or voter’s household.

(B) The advertising, solicitation, sale, or marketing of products
or services to any voter or voter’s household.

(C) Reproduction in print, broadcast visual or audio, or display
on the Internet or any computer terminal unless pursuant to
paragraph (3) begin delete or (4) end delete .

(3) Shall be provided with respect to any voter, subject to the
provisions of Sections 2166.5, 2166.7, and 2188, to any candidate
for federal, state, or local office, to any committee for or against
any initiative or referendum measure for which legal publication
is made, and to any person for election, scholarly, journalistic, or
political purposes, or for governmental purposes, as determined
by the Secretary of State.

begin delete

(4) Shall be available to the public 100 years after the creation
of the record. If records are contained in the great registers of
voters and the bound register contains information covering more
than one year, the records shall not be available to the public until
the entire contents of the register have been recorded for at least
100 years.

end delete

(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the
California driver’s license number, the California identification
card number, the social security number, and any other unique
identifier used by the State of California for purposes of voter
identification shown on a voter registration card of a registered
voter, or added to voter registration records to comply with the
requirements of the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42
U.S.C. Sec. 15301 et seq.), are confidential and shall not be
disclosed to any person.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the signature
of the voter shown on the voter registration card is confidential
and shall not be disclosed to any person, except as provided in
begin delete paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) and end delete subdivision (c).

(c) (1) The home address or signature of any voter shall be
released whenever the person’s vote is challenged pursuant to
Sections 15105 to 15108, inclusive, or Article 3 (commencing
with Section 14240) of Chapter 3 of Division 14. The address or
signature shall be released only to the challenger, to elections
officials, and to other persons as necessary to make, defend against,
or adjudicate the challenge.

(2) An elections official shall permit a person to view the
signature of a voter for the purpose of determining whether the
signature matches a signature on an affidavit of registration or a
petition, but shall not permit a signature to be copied.

(d) A governmental entity, or officer or employee thereof, shall
not be held civilly liable as a result of disclosure of the information
referred to in this section, unless by a showing of gross negligence
or willfulness.

(e) For the purposes of this section, “voter’s household” is
defined as the voter’s place of residence or mailing address or any
persons who reside at the place of residence or use the mailing
address as supplied on the affidavit of registration pursuant to
paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (a) of Section 2150.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 2194.1 is added to the end insert begin insert Elections Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 2194.1. end insert   

The voter registration card information identified in
Section 6254.4 of the Government Code shall be available to the
public 100 years after the creation of the record. If records are
contained in the great registers of voters and the bound register
contains information covering more than one year, the records
shall not be available to the public until the entire contents of the
register have been recorded for at least 100 years.

end insert