BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 362|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 362
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 4/8/13
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONSTITUTIONAL AMEND. COMM. : 4-1, 4/30/13
AYES: Correa, Hancock, Padilla, Yee
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 5/13/13
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
SUBJECT : Voting procedures: natural disasters
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires a county elections official to
issue a vote-by-mail (VBM) ballot to emergency workers when that
individual is assisting with the recovery efforts during an
out-of-state emergency as called by the Governor.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Provides, upon the declaration of a state of emergency by the
Governor and the issuance of an executive order authorizing
an emergency worker to cast a ballot outside of his/her home
precinct, elections officials in the counties included in the
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executive order shall, upon demand, issue to an emergency
worker a provisional ballot that may be identical to the
provisional ballot offered to other voters in the county,
using a process to be determined by the elections official.
2. Requires an elections official to transmit for processing any
ballot cast, including any materials necessary to process the
ballot, to the elections official in the county where the
voter is registered to vote.
This bill:
1. Requires a county elections official to issue a VBM ballot to
an emergency workers when that individual is assisting with
the recovery efforts during an out-of-state emergency as
called by the Governor. The ballot will be counted as long
as it is received by the elections official no later than
three days after Election Day and postmarked on or before
Election Day or time-stamped of date-stamped by a private
mail delivery company on or before Election Day.
2. Defines "emergency worker" as a person who is officially
engaged in responding to the proclamation of an out-of-state
emergency and whose vocation has been identified in an
executive order relating to the state of emergency.
3. Provides that upon the declaration of an out-of-state
emergency by the Governor and the issuance of an executive
order authorizing an emergency worker to cast a ballot
outside of his/her home precinct, a county elections official
shall, upon request, issue a VBM ballot to an emergency
worker using a process to be determined by that elections
official.
4. Requires that in order to be counted, a VBM ballot cast by a
voter be received by the elections official no later than
three days after Election Day and postmarked on or before
Election Day or time-stamped or date-stamped by a private
mail delivery company on or before Election Day.
5. Requires that upon receipt of the returned ballot, an
elections official process the ballot.
6. Provides that a VBM ballot may be sent to the emergency
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worker via electronic mail or facsimile.
Background
Existing law, pursuant to AB 1440 (Swanson, Chapter 395,
Statutes of 2009) allows emergency personnel who are officially
engaged in responding to a state-of-emergency after a disaster
such as fire or earthquake to vote in an election by casting a
provisional ballot within any county in California and further
requires that county elections official to forward that ballot
to the appropriate county where the voter resides.
California residents often volunteer to assist in the recovery
of natural disasters that occur outside of this state. Family
members and professionals such as firefighters, police officers,
National Guardsmen, utility workers, and other California
residents travel to areas affected by disasters for extended
periods of time to help with recovery efforts. Sometimes these
efforts are close to election times and affect the individual's
ability to cast his/her vote in a timely manner.
For instance, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the L. A.
Department of Water & Power, SoCal Edison, San Diego Gas &
Electric, Pacific Gas & Electric, the California Red Cross,
National Guard, and the California Emergency Management Urban
Search and Rescue Team were among many organizations that left
California right before the election. Many of these individuals
were unable to vote because the deadline to register as a VBM
voter had already passed.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, unknown but
likely less than $25,000 (General).
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/14/13)
Secretary of State, Debra Bowen
American Red Cross
Common Cause
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Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)
PowerPAC.org
Rock the Vote
SEIU
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
California residents volunteer to assist in natural disaster
relief efforts across the U.S. and the world. They travel to
areas affected by disasters for extended periods of time to help
with recovery. These efforts can occur close to an election and
affect a volunteer's ability to vote, such as Hurricane Sandy
which occurred a week before the 2012 Presidential Election.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy the Los Angeles Department
of Water & Power, SoCal Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric,
Pacific Gas & Electric, the California Red Cross, the California
National Guard, and the California Emergency Management Urban
Search and Rescue Team, and many other California residents went
to New York and New Jersey to volunteer.
The California volunteers had little time to prepare special
arrangements to vote and the deadline to apply for an absentee
ballot had already passed. The deadline is seven days before an
election. Neither the Governor nor Secretary of State nor
County Election Officials had the authority to allow the
volunteers to vote under special circumstances.
RM:d 5/15/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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