BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 112
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          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                  |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          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 


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