Amended in Assembly June 3, 2013

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, and to add Section 2194.1 to, 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 begin delete be available to the public end delete begin insert that is in existence end insert 100 years after the creation of the record begin insert be available to the public end insert . 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. The bill would make a conforming change to existing law.

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) Except as provided in Section 2194.1, the voter
registration card information identified in Section 6254.4 of the
Government Code:

(1) Shall 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).

(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.

(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
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.

SEC. 2.  

Section 2194.1 is added to the Elections Code, to read:

2194.1.  

begin delete The end delete begin insert Any end insert voter registration card information identified
in Section 6254.4 of the Government Code begin delete shall be available to
the public end delete begin insert in existence end insert 100 years after the creation of the record
begin insert shall be available to the public end insert . 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.