BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair


          SB 361 (Padilla) - Voter Registration
          
          Amended: May 16, 2013           Policy Vote: E&CA 4-1
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: Yes
          Hearing Date: May 23, 2013      Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
          
          SUSPENSE FILE.
          
          
          Bill Summary:  SB 361 requires the Secretary of State to provide  
          registration, ballot status, and polling place information on  
          the SOS Internet Web site.

          Fiscal Impact: 
          
              The Secretary of State anticipates minor, absorbable costs  
              (General)


          Background:  The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA),  
          requires each state to designate agencies for the registration  
          of voters in elections for federal office including motor  
          vehicle agency offices, offices that provide public assistance,  
          offices that provide state-funded programs primarily engaged in  
          providing services to persons with disabilities, Armed Forces  
          recruitment offices, and other state and local offices within  
          the state designated as NVRA voter registration agencies.  

          Proposed Law:  SB 361 does the following: 

          -  Requires the SOS to provide on his or her Internet Web site  
          all of the following:

             The capability for a vote by mail (VBM) voter to check the  
             status of the voter's VBM ballot to discover whether the  
             ballot was counted and, if not, the reason why it was not  
             counted.

             The capability for a voter to find the location of his or  
             her polling place.

             The capability for a voter to check the status of the  








          SB 361 (Padilla)
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             voter's registration.

          SB 361 provides that implementation will be contingent upon the  
          SOS certifying that the state has a statewide voter registration  
          database that complies with the requirements of the federal Help  
          America Vote Act of 2002.

          Staff Comments:  The provisions required in SB 361 relating to  
          registration and ballot status essentially codify features that  
          are already anticipated to be included in the new statewide  
          voter registration database known as VoteCal.  The VoteCal  
          contract was awarded to a vendor on March 13, 2013 and the  
          project is expected to be completed by the end of June 2016.