BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
SB 267 (Pavley) - Polling Places
Amended: May 7, 2013 Policy Vote: ED 7-2, E&CA 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 23, 2013 Consultant: Marie Liu
SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
Bill Summary (as approved on May 23, 2013): SB 267 would require
the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop a new
financial assistance program for energy efficiency and clean
energy projects for the University of California, California
State University, and the California Community Colleges to be
funded by Proposition 39 monies.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 23, 2013):
Unspecified amounts from the Job Creation Fund (special
fund) for financial assistance for energy efficiency or
clean energy technology installation.
Unknown costs to the CEC from the Job Creation Fund for the
development and administration of programs.
Background: Existing law requires an elections official to
designate a polling place for each precinct at least 29 days
prior to the election and provides that if an elections official
specifically requests the use of a school building for polling
places on an election day, the governing body having
jurisdiction over the particular school building shall allow its
use for the purpose requested. Precincts are limited to 1,000
registered voters each.
Current law provides elections officials with some discretion in
determining polling places, as long as the selected locations
meet specific requirements, including locating polling places on
college and university campuses. Discussions with county
elections officials indicate that polling places are often
located on public and private college campuses when the colleges
cooperate and there are enough voters registered on the campus
to merit it or when the location and parking situation on campus
makes the polling place convenient for off-campus voters.
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Proposed Law: SB 267 requires that for each statewide general
election in even numbered years only, county elections officials
must establish precincts consisting solely of, and corresponding
polling places within, each campus of a community college, the
California State University, and the University of California if
the following occur:
a) There are at least 1,000 people living on the campus.
b) The campus complies with accessibility requirements and
guidelines for polling places established by the Secretary
of State.
The bill also authorizes the county to establish multiple
polling places within a campus, and encourages the campus and
the elections official to inform the campus community that only
voters who are registered within the campus precinct boundaries
will be allowed to vote at the campus polling place.
Staff Comments: SB 267 could result in the need for additional
off-campus polling places to the extent that a college campus
now hosts a polling place for the neighboring community and
under the provisions of SB 267 only campus residents would be
entitled to vote at the campus site. Staff notes that many
students live directly off-campus in various rental housing
units and although they may spend their entire day on campus,
they would not be able to vote there under the provisions of
this bill.
It should also be noted that during the November 2012 General
Election, nine of the ten campuses of the University of
California, and 16 of the 23 campuses of the California State
University hosted polling places on campus. The campuses that
did not hold a polling location either did not meet the
on-campus residency threshold or already had convenient nearby
polling locations. None of the community colleges have more
than 1,000 students living on-campus so they will not be
required to establish polling locations under the provisions of
this bill.
Additionally, since the bill requires precincts to be
established on college campuses for November elections for
students who have registered to vote using their campus address,
these students will need to have been registered at the address
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they were living at in June in order to vote during the primary
election, and then reregister before the general election in
order to vote on campus in November. Many college students are
registered as vote-by-mail voters using their parents' permanent
address since students tend to change housing every year.
Staff notes that the Governor's Budget proposes the continued
suspension of six long-suspended elections mandates and the
suspension of three newly determined elections mandates in
2013-14. SB 267 adds a new reimbursable elections mandate.
Recommended Amendments: Staff notes that Elections Code Section
12261 (a) requires the boundaries of precincts for the general
election to be the same as those established for the direct
primary election. This is a conflict with the provisions of
SB 267 which requires the campuses to be considered as precincts
only during the November statewide elections. A clarifying
amendment will be needed as this bill moves forward.
The committee amendments would delete existing provisions and
instead insert language to create a new financial assistance
program for energy efficiency and clean energy projects for the
University of California, California State University, and the
California Community Colleges to be funded by Proposition 39
monies. The guidelines would be required to establish audit
standards and procedures, ensure projects are consistent with
the state's loading order, ensure energy savings benefits exceed
project costs, establish verification standards, require
reporting of energy savings achieved, and give priority to
projects that have the highest energy savings relative to the
amount of public moneys used to finance the project. The
financial assistance would be split between the University of
California, California State University, and the California
Community Colleges in unspecified amounts.