BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2455


                                                                    Page  1


          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS


          AB  
          2455 (Chiu and Bonta)


          As Amended  August 15, 2016


          Majority vote


           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |ASSEMBLY:  |52-23 |(May 23, 2016) |SENATE: |26-12 |(August 18,      |
          |           |      |               |        |      |2016)            |
          |           |      |               |        |      |                 |
          |           |      |               |        |      |                 |
           -------------------------------------------------------------------- 


          Original Committee Reference:  E. & R.




          SUMMARY:  Requires the California State University (CSU) and  
          California Community Colleges (CCC) to permit students who  
          enroll online at the institution to electronically register to  
          vote through the Internet Web site of the Secretary of State  
          (SOS), beginning July 1, 2018.  Specifically, this bill:  


          1)Requires the CSU and CCC, not later than 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 Internet Web site  
            of the SOS, as specified.  Encourages the University of  
            California (UC) to coordinate with the SOS to develop such a  
            process.










                                                                    AB 2455


                                                                    Page  2


          2)Declares the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this bill,  
            to take preliminary measures towards the establishment of an  
            automatic voter registration system for California citizens  
            enrolled at state public college and university campuses.


          The Senate amendments:


          1)Move the Assembly-approved contents of the bill to a different  
            section of law and make a conforming change.


          2)Require the SOS, when he or she receives a voter registration  
            record from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), as  
            specified, for a person who is already registered to vote, to  
            use the information received to update the voter's  
            registration record.  Provide that if the record does not  
            contain information for which a space is provided on the voter  
            registration application, but that information was provided in  
            the voter's prior registration, the information from the prior  
            registration shall remain part of the voter's record.


          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee:


          1)Minor costs to the CSU, CCC, and UC to provide a link or  
            redirect students online to the SOS website regarding voter  
            registration.


          2)Unknown, but likely minor costs to SOS related to the increase  
            in printing the Voter Information Guide.


          COMMENTS:  According to the author, "Young people haven't been  
          registering to vote or turning out to the polls.  In 2014, 18-24  
          year-olds had the lowest turnout of all age groups:  only  
          285,000 of 3.5 million eligible young adult voters turned out to  
          vote.  Because of their low voting numbers, the young adult  








                                                                    AB 2455


                                                                    Page  3


          voice was greatly underrepresented in 2014.  Youth made up a  
          meager 3.9% of those who voted, despite constituting 14.5% of  
          the eligible voting population.


          "The Student Voting Act will implement an online link  
          between class enrollment and voter registration for  
          students at the [UC], [CSU] and [CCC] systems.   
          Collectively these campuses have approximately 2.8 million  
          students.  These public college and university systems can  
          serve as an important entry point register hundreds of  
          thousands of additional Californians."


          SB 854 (Ridley-Thomas), Chapter 481, Statutes of 2007, required  
          every CCC and CSU campus that operates an automated class  
          registration system to permit students, during the class  
          registration process, to receive a voter registration  
          application that is preprinted with personal information  
          relevant to voter registration, as specified.  The UC system was  
          encouraged to comply with this provision.  


          Following the launch of California's online voter registration  
          system, the provisions of SB 854 were updated by AB 1446  
          (Mullin), Chapter 593, Statutes of 2014, to require that an  
          automated class registration system permit students to apply to  
          register to vote online by submitting an affidavit of voter  
          registration electronically on the SOS's Internet Web site.   
          According to an annual report prepared by the SOS, in 2015,  
          14,669 students at CCC, CSU, and UC campuses completed a voter  
          registration application online using this process.  


          This bill would require the CCC and the CSU systems, and would  
          request the UC system, to create a similar process to allow a  
          student to submit an electronic voter registration affidavit at  
          the time he or she enrolls online at the higher education  
          institution.


          The Senate amendments to this bill move the Assembly-approved  








                                                                    AB 2455


                                                                    Page  4


          contents of the bill to a different section of code.   
          Additionally, the Senate amendments make minor changes to  
          existing law to ensure that registered voters'  
          previously-identified voting preferences are not inadvertently  
          removed when they are re-registered to vote at the DMV pursuant  
          to AB 1461 (Gonzalez), Chapter 729, Statutes of 2015.  This  
          bill, as amended in the Senate, is generally consistent with  
          Assembly actions.


          Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion  
          of this bill.


          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094  FN:  
          0004207