BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1461
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1461 (Gonzalez, et al.)
As Amended May 5, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Transportation |10-5 |Frazier, Bloom, |Achadjian, Baker, |
| | |Chu, Dodd, Eduardo |Kim, Linder, Melendez |
| | |Garcia, Gomez, | |
| | |Medina, Nazarian, | |
| | |O'Donnell, Santiago | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Elections |5-2 |Ridley-Thomas, |Grove, Travis Allen |
| | |Gatto, Gordon, | |
| | |Mullin, Perea | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+--------------------+----------------------|
|Appropriations |12-5 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Gallagher, Jones, |
| | |Eggman, |Wagner |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gordon, Holden, | |
| | |Quirk, Rendon, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
AB 1461
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SUMMARY: Provides for every person who has a driver's license or
state identification card and who is eligible to register to vote
to be automatically registered to vote, unless that person opts
out, as specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Secretary of State (SOS), in consultation with the
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), to establish a schedule for
the DMV to electronically provide to the SOS the records of a
person who is issued an original or renewal driver's license or
state identification card, as specified.
a) Requires the DMV to electronically provide the records to
the SOS of a person who is issued an original or renewal of a
driver's license or state identification card if the proof
that the applicant is required to submit to prove that his or
her presence in the United States is authorized under federal
law also establishes that the applicant is a citizen of the
United States.
b) Requires the records to include the person's name, age,
residence address, and electronic signature.
c) Prohibits the DMV from electronically providing the
records of a person who is issued a driver's license pursuant
to specified provisions of law because that person is unable
to establish satisfactory proof that his or her presence in
the United States is authorized under federal law.
d) Prohibits records from being transferred from the DMV to
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the SOS pursuant to this provision until after the SOS
certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration
database that complies with the requirements of the federal
Help America Vote Act.
2)Requires the SOS, upon receipt of the records from the DMV, to
provide the records to the county elections official of the
county in which the person may be registered to vote, unless the
SOS determines that the person is not eligible to register to
vote or is already registered to vote.
3)Requires the SOS to notify each person whose records are sent to
a county elections official of the following:
a) That the person will be registered to vote unless he or
she declines to be registered within 21 days after the date
the SOS issues the notification;
b) The method by which the person may decline to be
registered to vote; and,
c) The method by which the person may include his or her
political party preference on his or her voter registration.
4)Provides that if a person notified as detailed above does not
decline to be registered to vote within 21 days after the date
that the SOS issues the notification, that person's records
shall constitute a completed affidavit of registration and the
person shall be registered to vote.
5)Provides that this bill shall not affect the confidentiality of
a person's voter registration information.
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6)Requires the SOS to adopt regulations to implement this bill.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)The DMV estimates costs of approximately $640,000 in 2015-16 and
$530,000 annually thereafter related to programming, driver's
license form modifications, and increased talk-time in field
offices.
2)The SOS will incur significant mailing costs to notify persons
automatically registered to vote, through transmission of their
DMV records, that they may opt out of registration within 21
days.
(A recently-released budget proposal in the Governor's May
revision would provide $2.35 million for software/hardware
upgrades to the DMV's in-person driver's license application
process and online driver's license renewal process and for
related updates to the SOS' voter registration systems. This is
intended to help facilitate a person's voter registration at the
time he or she applies for or renews their driver's license.
Improvement of the current opt-in process should increase voter
registration through the DMV. This bill, by establishing
automatic registration, with a subsequent opt-out process, would
seem to replace current opt-in process going forward, including
the enhancements proposed for the budget.)
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Congress enacted the federal
National Voter Registration Act of 1993, commonly known as the
'Motor Voter Law,' to increase the number of eligible citizens who
register to vote. However, more than 20 years after the passage
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of the Act, voter registration still stands as one of the biggest
barriers to participation in our nation's democracy? AB 1461 will
enact the California New Motor Voter Act to make voter
registration easier when citizens get or renew a driver's license,
thereby increasing opportunities for eligible citizens to
participate in democracy by voting."
No state currently takes the responsibility for proactively
registering eligible individuals to vote - instead, almost every
state puts the impetus on individuals to register themselves to
vote (North Dakota, which is the only state without voter
registration, is the exception). The idea of making the
government responsible for proactively registering voters when the
government has information to verify individuals' eligibility to
vote - sometimes referred to as "automatic voter registration" -
received renewed attention earlier this year when the Oregon
Legislature passed and the Governor signed House Bill 2177, which
will require Oregon elections officials to automatically register
people to vote if the state Department of Transportation has
information indicating that those people are eligible to register
to vote.
Various provisions of the state's elections laws are dependent on
the numbers and percentages of registered voters. Because this
bill has the potential to substantially increase the number of
registered voters in California, many of those provisions may need
to be reevaluated and adjusted to reflect the increase in
registered voters that is likely to occur with this bill. For
example, existing law limits each precinct to a maximum of 1,000
voters as of the 88th day before the election. Unless that figure
is adjusted, elections officials could be required to create
thousands of new precincts around the state to reflect the
increase in voter registration that could occur with this bill.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of
this bill.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0000677