BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2911
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
2911 (Committee on Elections and Redistricting)
As Amended August 18, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |79-0 |(May 5, 2016) |SENATE: |39-0 |(August 23, |
| | | | | |2016) |
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Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
SUMMARY: Standardizes terms in the Elections Code used to refer
to the county and state voter information guides. Specifically,
this bill deletes the terms "sample ballot," "ballot pamphlet,"
"voter's pamphlet," "voter pamphlet," "state ballot pamphlet,"
and "statewide voter pamphlet," and replaces them with "state
voter information guide" or "county voter information guide," as
appropriate.
The Senate amendments:
1)Move the date under which a voting system had to be submitted
for federal qualification in order for that system to be
subject to state testing requirements that existed prior to
the enactment of SB 360 (Padilla), Chapter 602, Statutes of
2013, from September 1, 2013 to April 28, 2016.
2)Add double-joining language in order to avoid chaptering
AB 2911
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problems with AB 2089 (Quirk), AB 2010 (Ridley-Thomas), and AB
2265 (Stone) of the current legislative session.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "This is one of the Assembly
Elections & Redistricting Committee's omnibus bills containing
various minor and technical changes to provisions of the
Elections Code. All of the provisions of this bill are changes
requested by the California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)."
Elections Code Section 9094 requires the Secretary of State to
mail to all households in which voters are registered a state
voter information guide, as specified. Existing law requires
the guide to contain information including, but not limited to,
a complete copy of each state measure, arguments and rebuttals
for and against each state measure, and an analysis of each
state measure. Additionally, Elections Code Sections
13300-13303 require county elections officials to mail a county
voter information guide to each voter in the jurisdiction, as
specified. Existing law requires the county voter information
guide to contain, among other things, a copy of the official
ballot (sample ballot), a notice of the polling place, a
complete copy of each local measure, and an analysis of each
measure.
Throughout the Elections Code, however, there are a variety of
terms used to refer to state or county voter information guides.
For example, various Elections Code Sections use the terms
"ballot pamphlet," "state ballot pamphlet," and "statewide voter
pamphlet" when describing the state voter information guide.
Moreover, the terms "sample ballot" and "voter pamphlet" are
used throughout the Elections Code when referring to the county
voter information guide.
AB 2911
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According to county elections officials, the use of different
terms throughout the Elections Code can be confusing when trying
to comply with existing law. This bill will clean-up the
Elections Code and standardize these terms. Specifically, this
bill deletes the terms "sample ballot," "ballot pamphlet,"
"voter's pamphlet," "voter pamphlet," "state ballot pamphlet,"
and "statewide voter pamphlet" and replaces them with "state
voter information guide" or "county voter information guide," as
appropriate.
The Senate amendments move the date under which a voting system
had to be submitted for federal qualification in order for that
system to be subject to state testing requirements that existed
prior to the enactment of SB 360. SB 360 significantly modified
the procedures for the certification of voting systems that are
used in elections held in the state. To prevent voting system
vendors from rushing systems into testing so that those systems
would not need to comply with the new testing requirements, SB
360 permitted a voting system that was submitted for federal
qualification before September 1, 2013, to be submitted for
state approval under the state's voting system certification
requirements that were in place prior to the approval of SB 360.
The September 1 date, however, was also intended to ensure that
voting system upgrades that were ready for testing could move
forward under the voting system rules in place at the time.
However, due to delays at the federal level, development of the
new voting system standards has been delayed and as a result
there is no voting equipment on the market that has been tested
to the new standards. A number of counties, however, are
interested in upgrading components of their voting systems.
Extending the date from September 1, 2013, to April 28, 2016,
will ensure counties have the ability to do so. This provision
was requested by CACEO.
Additionally, the Senate amendments add double-joining language
in order to avoid chaptering problems with AB 2089 (Quirk), AB
2010 (Ridley-Thomas), and AB 2265 (Stone) of the current
legislative session.
AB 2911
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Analysis Prepared by:
Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0004781