BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �






                         SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS 
                         AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
                           Senator Lou Correa, Chair


          BILL NO:   SB 112            HEARING DATE: 04/30/13
          AUTHOR:    MONNING           ANALYSIS BY:  Frances Tibon  
          Estoista
          AMENDED:   04/04/13
          FISCAL:    NO
          
                                     SUBJECT
           
          Voter information:  public examination

                                   DESCRIPTION  
          
           Existing law  sets forth the requirements and procedures for  
          handling voter registration cards 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 under specified  
          circumstances.  

           This bill  would require that 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  
          records shall not be available to the public until the  
          entire contents of the register have been recorded for at  
          least 100 years.

                                    BACKGROUND  
          
          Historic county voter registration records are often  
          contained in books called Great Registers.  These books are  
          valuable sources of historic interest to researchers,  
          historians, archivists, and many others.  However, access  
          to these historic treasures is severely limited because  
          voter registration records are, for the most part, not  









          available public records. 

          The Elections Code allows voter registration records to be  
          accessed for election, scholarly, journalistic,  
          governmental, or political purposes, as determined by the  
          Secretary of State.  These access provisions do not include  
          one of the most common reasons people want to access the  
          historic rolls, which is to learn about their genealogy, or  
          family's history in California.


          Historic voter records often show the date of birth,  
          signature, address, occupation, and in some cases, the  
          country of origin, birthplace, and physical characteristics  
          of the voter such as height, color of hair and eyes, and  
          distinguishing marks.  Identifiers such as social security  
          and driver's license numbers were not used in voter  
          registration cards until 1994.

          For comparison purposes, the U.S. Census records contain  
          information similar to the historic voter rolls.  Census  
          records are sealed for 72 years, and then released to the  
          public by the National Archives and Records Administration.  
           In accordance with the "72-Year Rule" (based upon the  
          average life expectancy for the U.S. population at the  
          time), the National Archives most recently released the  
          1940 records on April 2, 2012.

                                     COMMENTS  
          
            1. According to the author  :  SB 112 seeks to make historic  
             voter rolls, including bound books called "Great  
             Registers," available to the public for the purpose of  
             historical and genealogical interests.  These county  
             voter registration records contain valuable historical  
             information such as the date of birth, signature,  
             address, occupation, and in some cases, the country of  
             origin, birthplace, and physical characteristics of the  
             voter, such as height, color of hair and eyes, and  
             distinguishing marks.  Access to this data, much of it  
             from the late 19th and early 20th century, is currently  
             restricted to official, scholarly, and journalistic  
             purposes and is not available to the public for  
             exploration of their genealogical roots.  These historic  
          SB 112 (MONNING)                                         
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             treasures should be available to anyone with interest in  
             California history.

            2. Related legislation  :  AB 2719 (Laird), Ch. 783,  
             Statutes of 2004 provides for the State Archives, with  
             the Secretary of State as custodian, and requires the  
             SOS to receive into the archives any item, including any  
             paper, document, book, map, or other type of record,  
             that is required by law to be delivered to or filed with  
             the secretary.

                                    POSITIONS  
          
          Sponsor: Secretary of State

           Support: California Association of Clerks and Election  
                   Officials
                    California Association of Museums
                    Common Cause
                    County of Santa Cruz County Clerk
                    National Coalition for History
                    Society of California Archivists

           Oppose:  None received


















          SB 112 (MONNING)                                         
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