BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 800
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
800 (Gomez) - As Amended March 23, 2015
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|Policy |Rules |Vote:|11 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
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| |Elections and Redistricting | |4 - 3 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill requires elections officials, when delivering
vote-by-mail (VBM) ballots, to include a return envelope with
postage paid if the ballot is mailed within the United States.
AB 800
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Assuming 4.5 million VBM ballots are delivered, as an average
of primary and general elections and Presidential and
non-Presidential election cycles, annual costs for state
elections would be $2.2 million. Cost could be up to $6
million for a large ballot, requiring greater postage, in a
Presidential election. (Although some counties already provide
postage paid return envelopes for VBM ballots, these costs
will now be borne by the General Fund through imposition of
this state mandate.)
2)Additional VBM postage in non-state elections could cost up to
several million dollars annually.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "Increasing voter turnout is
crucial to the future of California. AB 800 will provide paid
postage envelopes for registered voters who elect to
vote-by-mail and removes one obstacle for voters."
2)Postal Service Practice. In order to protect against the
inadvertent disenfranchisement of voters, it is the policy of
the United States Postal Service that VBM ballots with
insufficient postage "must not be detained or treated as
unpaid mail." Instead, under Postal Service policy, postal
workers are supposed to deliver the ballot to the appropriate
elections official, and to seek to recover the postage due
from the elections official. Notwithstanding this policy,
ballots are nonetheless occasionally returned to voters for
insufficient postage.
AB 800
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3)Opposition. The California Association of Clerks and Elections
Officials is concerned about the unfunded mandate in this
bill.
4)Prior Legislation. This bill is similar to SB 1062 (Block) of
2014, which was held on Suspense in Senate Appropriations, and
to AB 1519 (De La Torre) of 2009 and SB 117 (Murray) of 2005,
both of which were held on this committee's Suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081