BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 112
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 112 (Monning)
As Amended June 3, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-0
ELECTIONS 5-1
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bocanegra, Bonta, | | |
| |Hall, Perea | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Donnelly | | |
| | | | |
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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
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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
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Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0001130