BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 112 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 112 (Monning) As Amended June 3, 2013 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :34-0 ELECTIONS 5-1 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Fong, Bocanegra, Bonta, | | | | |Hall, Perea | | | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Donnelly | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Requires any voter registration card information in existence 100 years after the creation of the record to be made available to the public. Provides that 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. FISCAL EFFECT : None. This bill has been keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS : 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, was restricted to official, political, scholarly, and journalistic purposes in 1994 with SB 1518 (Marks) and is not available to the public for exploration of their genealogical roots. It is the author's belief that these historic records should be available to anyone with interest in SB 112 Page 2 California history. SB 112 intends to remedy this flaw by making historic voter records available to the public 100 years after their creation. "Making these records available to the public after 100 years would mirror a similar state law allowing public access to any state record given to the California State Archives after 75 years. U.S. Census records, which contain information very similar to that found in voter registration forms, are released to the public by the National Archives and Records Administration after being sealed for 72 years. In accordance with the 72-Year Rule, the National Archives most recently released the 1940 records on April 2, 2012. "It is important to note that waiting to make these records available 100 years after creation ensures that no living person's information will be made available to the public. Personal identifiers such as social security and driver's license numbers, which were not used in voter registration cards until 1994, would be kept private for 100 years before being made available. Some identifiers, such as social security numbers, are made public after the passing of any person on public death certificates. "Current state law requires that voter registration records be kept confidential in perpetuity. Keeping these historic records permanently unavailable to the public is unnecessary, and restricts the public from tapping into valuable historic information. California Elections Code section 2194 allows for some public access to these records for 'election, scholarly, journalistic, governmental, or political purposes, as determined by the Secretary of State.' However, these provisions do not include one of the most commons reasons members of the public want to access California's historic voter rolls, which is for historical or genealogical interest. "These historic records should be available to the public after 100 years, a period of time which ensures the privacy of a voter's record will be maintained for their lifetime. SB 112 will align California statutes with similar public access guidelines, such as the '72 years provision' used when releasing confidential Census records." SB 112 Page 3 Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0001130