BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de León, 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  








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          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.








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          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.