BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2455| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2455 Author: Chiu (D) and Bonta (D), et al. Amended: 8/15/16 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 7-2, 6/15/16 AYES: Liu, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning, Pan NOES: Huff, Vidak SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-1, 6/21/16 AYES: Allen, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu NOES: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 4-2, 8/1/16 AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire NOES: Bates, Nielsen NO VOTE RECORDED: Mendoza ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-23, 5/23/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Electronic voter registration: public postsecondary educational institutions SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill requires the California State University (CSU) and the California Community Colleges (CCC) to implement a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who enrolls at the institution online to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically. Senate Floor Amendments of 8/15/16 add language to the Elections AB 2455 Page 2 Code to specify that the Secretary of State is to 1) update a voter's registration information based on information received from the Department of Motor Vehicles; and, 2) leave as part of a voter's record information from the voter's previous affidavit of registration that was not included in the voter's most recent affidavit of registration. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Authorizes a person who is qualified to register to vote and who has a valid California driver's license or state identification card to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State (SOS). (Elections Code § 2196) 2)Requires a person who registers to vote online to assent affirmatively to the use of his or her signature from his or her driver's license or state identification card for voter registration purposes. Requires the SOS to obtain an electronic copy of the signature of a person who registers to vote online directly from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). (Elections Code § 2260, et seq.) 3)Requires, pursuant to the Student Voter Registration Act, every campus of the CCCs and CSU that operates an automated class registration system to permit students, through the automated registration process, to apply to register to vote online by submitting an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the SOS's Web site. Existing law requests campuses of the University of California (UC) to comply with this process. (Elections Code § 2146, et seq.) 4)Requires, pursuant to the California New Motor Voter Program, the DMV to transfer records to the SOS of each person who submits an application for a driver's license or state identification card, or provides the DMV with a change of address, and who attests that he or she meets all voter eligibility requirements. Provides that the records of a person that are transmitted from the DMV to the SOS pursuant AB 2455 Page 3 to this provision shall constitute a completed affidavit of voter registration for that person unless: a) The person affirmatively declines to register to vote at the DMV. b) The person does not attest that he or she meets all voter eligibility requirements while at the DMV. c) The SOS determines that the person is not eligible to register to vote. (Elections Code § 2260) This bill: 1)Requires the CSU and the CCC, and request the UC, by July 1, 2018, to implement a process and the infrastructure to allow a person who enrolls online at the institution to submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the SOS Web site in accordance with existing law. 2)States legislative intent to take preliminary measure towards the establishment of an automatic voter registration system for California citizens enrolled at state public college and university campuses. 3)Requires the SOS to: a) Update a voter's registration information based on information received from the DMV; and, b) Leave as part of a voter's record information from the voter's previous affidavit of registration that was not included in the voter's most recent affidavit of registration. Comments Another venue. Existing law requires every campus of the CCC and CSU that operates an automated class registration system to permit students, through the automated registration process, to apply to register to vote online by submitting an affidavit of voter registration electronically on the SOS's Web site. AB 2455 Page 4 Campuses achieve this by providing a link to the SOS Web site on the college's online course registration, whereby students submit an affidavit of voter registration electronically to the SOS. This bill essentially requires campuses to provide this link when students enroll at the campus online. Annual report. Existing law requires the SOS to submit an annual report to the Legislature on its student voter registration efforts. The report is to include estimates as to how many voter registration forms were sent to high schools, campuses of the CCC, CSU and UC; how many voter registration forms were submitted; and how many electronic affidavits of voter registration were submitted by students. According to the 2015 report, 14,669 students at CCC, CSU and UC campuses completed a voter registration application online through the course registration process. [http://admin.cdn.sos.ca.gov/reports/2015/student-voter-registrat ion.pdf] Motor Voter. This bill states that it is the intent of the Legislature to take preliminary measures towards the establishment of an automatic voter registration system for California citizens enrolled at state public college and university campuses. According to the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee analysis, "if the desire is to eventually move toward a voter registration process at colleges and universities that is similar to the [California New Motor Voter (CNMVP)] process, there are a number of obstacles that will need to be overcome before such a process is feasible. Unlike the DMV, the CSU and CCC systems do not typically have digitized signatures on file for their customers (students). Furthermore, the type of interface that the DMVs computers have with the state's voter registration system does not exist with the CSU and CCC systems. In light of these facts, any future attempt to implement a CNMVP-like the process at the CSU and CCC, systems will face obstacles that did not exist for implementing the program with the DMV. Furthermore, such a program at the CSU and CCC system will reach a substantially smaller portion of the eligible voter population than the CNMVP will reach through the DMV." AB 2455 Page 5 FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Minor costs to the CSU, CCC, and UC to provide a link or redirect students online to the SOS Web site regarding voter registration. Unknown, but likely minor costs to SOS related to the increase in printing the Voter Information Guide. SUPPORT: (Verified8/15/16) California Secretary of State Alex Padilla California Common Cause California League of Conservation Voters Sierra Club California University of California University of California Student Association OPPOSITION: (Verified8/15/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 52-23, 5/23/16 AYES: Alejo, Atkins, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lopez, Low, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian, O'Donnell, Olsen, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon AB 2455 Page 6 NOES: Achadjian, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chang, Dahle, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Gatto, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, Melendez, Obernolte, Steinorth, Wagner, Waldron NO VOTE RECORDED: Arambula, Eggman, Hadley, Linder, Patterson Prepared by:Lynn Lorber / ED. / (916) 651-4105 8/16/16 17:38:42 **** END ****