BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 360 (Padilla) - Voting Systems
Amended: April 10, 2013 Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 13, 2013 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 360 authorizes a county to conduct a pilot
program for the experimental use of a voting system, and
requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to adopt and publish
regulations governing the pilot program.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs of $75,000 to Secretary of State (HAVA
Trust)
Costs to the SOS consist of $65,000 to adopt regulations for
voting systems testing to replace the federal Elections
Assistance Commission (EAC) certification and EAC testing agency
certification. Costs to approve testing agencies for voting
systems testing done in compliance with the new regulations
could vary, however if the EAC Voting Systems Testing Laboratory
Accreditation Program is mimicked, those costs would be a little
as $10,000. It is likely that available Help American Vote Act
(HAVA) funds could be used for these activities. The costs for
the actual testing of voting systems will be paid by the entity
submitting a voting system for testing.
Background: Existing law establishes various procedures and
criteria for the approval by the Secretary of State (SOS) of
voting systems, including ballot marking systems, to be used in
elections. A voting system and any modification to a voting
system must be approved by the SOS before it can be used in any
election. Electronic voting systems must be certified at the
federal level by the U.S. EAC before they can be submitted to
the SOS's office for review.
In April 2003, California received $265 million in Help America
Vote Act (HAVA) funds; including $75 million for new voting
SB 360 (Padilla)
Page 1
equipment and $40 million for a new statewide voter database.
These voting equipment funds were distributed to each county
beginning in 2004. California counties were then authorized to
purchase a new voting system. Nearly all California counties
purchased their voting systems from five different vendors. The
vendors offered a variety of systems and upgrades resulting in a
patchwork of technologies throughout California. In addition,
the vendors considered their technology intellectual property,
thereby limiting public access to both the operating software
and hardware.
Los Angeles County is the only county that uses the InkaVote
Plus and Microcomputer Tally Systems, and did not purchase a new
system because they could not identify one that met their unique
needs. In 2009, the Los Angeles County
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk (RR/CC) launched the Voting
Systems Assessment Project (VSAP) with the goal of developing
its own voting system. Los Angeles County would be the first
county in the U.S. to develop, own and operate its own voting
system.
Proposed Law: SB 360 does the following:
a) Requires the Secretary of State to adopt and publish
regulations governing pilot programs for the experimental use of
voting systems.
b) Authorizes the SOS to certify or conditionally approve the
use of a new voting system.
c) Authorizes a person, corporation, or public agency to
acquire a voting system and apply to the SOS for certification
that includes testing and examination of the applicant's system
by a state-approved testing agency.
d) Requires the SOS to publish and make available on his or her
Internet Website a quarterly report of regulatory activities
related to voting systems.
e) Requires the SOS to provide a 30 day public review period
(in addition to the already required public hearing) prior to
publishing his or her decision to certify, conditionally
approve, or withhold certification of a voting system.
SB 360 (Padilla)
Page 2
f) Extends the period of time that the SOS has to make its
report publicly available after completing the examination of a
voting system from 30 days to 60 days.
g) Provides that if more than one voting system is used to
count ballots, the names of candidates shall be placed on the
primary voting system.
h) Authorizes a county to use a publicly owned voting system in
a pilot program held at an election in one or more precincts.
i) Makes numerous technical and conforming changes to the
Certification of Voting Systems code sections.
Staff Comments: In order for L. A. County to fully implement a
state-approved system before the November 2016 election, a
prototype system must be developed and manufactured before the
Fall of 2015 in order that it may be piloted in the November
2015 elections. There is currently about $27 million remaining
of Section 301 HAVA funds that are available for voting systems
which could be used by L. A. County, and $48 million unspent
from Proposition 41 funds that are available to L. A. County for
a voting system. Additionally, eliminating the requirement that
counties get federal approval before state certification will
save counties millions of dollars.
Staff Recommended Amendments: Staff recommends that Sec. 68
(which repeals Elections Code Section 19252) be removed from SB
360 to avoid the possibility that the state's General Fund will
be used for the purchase of Direct Electronic Recording Systems.