BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 360
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 8/30/13
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM : 4-1, 4/30/13
AYES: Correa, Hancock, Padilla, Yee
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 5/13/13
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
SENATE FLOOR : 27-9, 5/24/13
AYES: Beall, Block, Calderon, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De
León, DeSaulnier, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso,
Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Monning, Padilla, Pavley, Price,
Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Emmerson, Fuller, Gaines, Huff, Knight,
Nielsen, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Evans, Liu, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-23, 9/4/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Certification of voting systems
SOURCE : Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder/County Clerk
DIGEST : This bill makes significant changes to procedures and
criteria for the certification and approval of a voting system;
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expands the use of Voting Modernization Fund (Fund) monies; and
authorizes a county to use those monies to purchase a
conditionally approved voting system, as specified, for research
and development of a nonproprietary voting system that uses
disclosed source code, as specified; or to manufacture a limited
number of voting system units for use in a pilot program, as
specified; or for submission to the Secretary of State (SOS) for
certification, as specified. Requires the SOS to adopt and
publish regulations, as specified, governing the experimental
use of a voting system in a pilot programs.
Assembly Amendments (1) add legislative intent regarding the
certification of voting systems; (2) recast and revise various
procedures and criteria for SOS's approval of voting systems;
(3) require SOS to adopt and publish voting system standards and
regulations governing the use of voting systems; (4) expand the
use of the Fund monies; (5) delete provisions of law that
prohibit a jurisdiction from purchasing or contracting for an
electronic voting system unless it has received federal
qualification, and instead prohibit a jurisdiction from
purchasing or contracting for a voting system unless it has been
certified or conditionally approved by SOS; (6) require SOS to
adopt and publish regulations governing the experimental use of
a voting system in a pilot programs; (7) repeal provisions of
law that permit the SOS to employ three expert technicians to
examine a voting system, and instead require SOS to use a
state-approved testing agency, or expert technicians, to examine
and test voting systems or parts of voting systems proposed for
use or sale in the state; (8) require SOS to publish and make
publicly available on his/her Internet Web site a quarterly
report of regulatory activities related to voting systems; (9)
include double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems
with AB 214 (Skinner) of the current legislative session; and
(10) make other technical and conforming changes.
ANALYSIS : Existing law establishes various procedures and
criteria for the approval by the 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 United States Election Assistance Commission (EAC) before
they can be submitted to the SOS's office for review.
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This bill:
1.Recasts and revises various procedures and criteria for the
SOS's approval of voting systems by changing the term
"approval" to the term "certification" and authorizes the SOS
to certify, conditionally approve, or withhold approval of a
voting system, as specified.
2.Deletes provisions of law that prohibit a jurisdiction from
purchasing or contracting for an electronic voting system
unless it has received federal qualification, and instead
prohibits a jurisdiction from purchasing or contracting for a
voting system unless it has been certified or conditionally
approved by the SOS, except as specified.
3.Authorizes the Fund monies to be used to purchase systems
certified or conditionally approved by the SOS, instead of
only systems certified by the SOS. Permits a county to use
fund monies to contract and pay for the following:
A. Research and development of a new voting system that has
not been certified or conditionally approved by the SOS and
uses only nonproprietary software and firmware with
disclosed source code, except for unmodified commercial
off-the-shelf software and firmware, as defined; or
B. Manufacture of the minimum number of voting system units
reasonably necessary for either of the following purposes:
(1) To test and seek certification or conditional
approval of the voting system pursuant to the provisions
of this bill; or
(2) To test and demonstrate the capabilities of the
voting system in a pilot program, as specified.
1.Requires the SOS to adopt and publish voting system standards
and regulations governing the use of voting systems, as
specified. Requires the standards to meet or exceed federal
voluntary voting system guidelines set forth by the EAC or its
successor agency, as specified.
2.Authorizes a governing board, without formally adopting a
voting system, to provide for the experimental use of a voting
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system in a pilot program, as specified, if the voting system
complies with either of the following:
A. The voting system is certified or conditionally approved
prior to its experimental use; or
B. The voting system meets all of the following
requirements:
(1) Uses only software and firmware with disclosed
source code, except for unmodified commercial
off-the-shelf software and firmware;
(2) Meets the requirements set forth in the SOS's
voting system standards and regulations governing the
use of a voting system, as specified;
(3) Meets the requirements set forth in pilot program
regulations adopted by the SOS pursuant to this bill;
and
(4) Implements risk-limiting audits, as specified.
1.Provides that a voting system that meets all of the
requirements above does not need to be certified or
conditionally approved prior to its experimental use in a
pilot program, if certain conditions are met.
2.Requires a governing board to submit a plan for the pilot
program to the SOS for approval, as specified. Requires the
SOS to adopt and publish regulations governing voting system
pilot programs. Prohibits a voting system pilot program from
being conducted in a legally binding election without prior
the approval of the SOS.
3.Repeals provisions of law that permit the SOS to employ three
expert technicians to examine a voting system, and instead
requires the SOS to use a state-approved testing agency, as
defined; or expert technicians, to examine and test voting
systems or parts of voting systems proposed for use or sale in
the state.
4.Requires the SOS to publish requirements for the approval of
state-approved testing agencies, as specified, and to publish
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a list of authorized state-approved testing agencies.
5.Requires the SOS to publish and make publicly available on
his/her Internet Web site a quarterly report of regulatory
activities related to voting systems.
6.Includes double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems
with AB 214 (Skinner) of the current legislative session.
Background
Existing law establishes various procedures and criteria for the
approval by the 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 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
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 required 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 launched the Voting Systems
Assessment Project 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
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According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs of $75,000 to the SOS (HAVA Trust)
Costs to the SOS consist of $65,000 to adopt regulations for
voting systems testing to replace the federal 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 will be a little as $10,000. It is likely that available
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.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/4/13)
Los Angeles County Registrar Recorder/County Clerk (source)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
Common Cause
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
PowerPAC
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the Los Angeles County
Registrar Recorder/County Clerk:
The integrity, security and accuracy of voting systems will
not be compromised under a state certification process.
This legislation allows the SOS to adopt federal voting
system standards.
County voting systems in California are aging rapidly and
the process for approving voting systems is doing little to
help approve new innovative systems or spur new approaches
to voting system development. No new voting systems have
been approved in California since 2007.
Federal standards may not meet California's standards. The
SOS has previously conducted a review of voting systems.
In 2007, the SOS conducted the "Top-to-Bottom" review where
it used more stringent standards than the adopted federal
standards to test already federally certified systems.
Under a state certification process the SOS will have the
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ability to approve and monitor the testing agencies used
for certification. The current SOS has expressed concerns
about the checks and balances in the selection and
monitoring of federal testing labs in the past.
Existing federal Voluntary Voting System Standards and
Voting System Test Labs provide an infrastructure the SOS
can leverage with the freedom to adopt state specific
requirements and standards.
The federal certification process does not contemplate for
publicly owned voting systems. This is a problem for Los
Angeles County who is seeking to develop and implement a
publicly owned and county operated voting system.
Currently, the state does not provide for the pilot use of
publicly owned/non-proprietary software systems by
counties. This is also an impediment for counties.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-23, 9/4/13
AYES: Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina,
Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,
Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NOES: Achadjian, Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle,
Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder,
Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen,
Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gorell, Melendez, Vacancy, Vacancy
RM:ek 9/4/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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