BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 589
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 589
(Block) - As Amended June 18, 2015
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| |Judiciary | |8 - 1 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
Yes
SUMMARY:
This bill enacts provisions to ensure that persons subject to
conservatorship are presumed competent to vote and those who are
capable of completing affidavits of registration with reasonable
SB 589
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accommodations in order to register to vote are able to do so.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Allows an individual with a disability who is otherwise
qualified to vote to complete an affidavit of registration
with reasonable accommodations as needed.
2)Authorizes an individual with a disability who is under a
conservatorship to be registered to vote if he or she has not
been disqualified from voting.
3)Establishes a legal presumption that a person is presumed
competent to vote regardless of his or her conservatorship
status.
4)Requires the court, in order to determine that a is person
mentally incompetent to vote, to find by clear and convincing
evidence that the person cannot communicate, with or without
reasonable accommodations, a desire to participate in the
voting process, regardless of his or her ability to complete
the affidavit of voter registration.
5)Establishes a process for the review, at a regularly scheduled
yearly or biennial review of the conservatorship, of any prior
determination that a person was disqualified from voting by
reason of being incapable of communicating, with or without
reasonable accommodations, a desire to participate in the
voting process, or by reason of being incapable of completing
an affidavit of voter registration, and provides for a hearing
to determine if, by clear and convincing evidence, the person
cannot communicate, with or without reasonable accommodations,
a desire to participate in the voting process.
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6)Requires, after a court review, unless the person is found to
be incapable of communicating that desire, the court to find
that the person's right to register to vote shall be restored,
and the court shall so notify the county elections official.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Likely minor costs to the courts and to county elections
officials.
COMMENTS:
Background and Purpose. In July of 2014, the Disability and
Abuse Project of Spectrum Institute filed a formal complaint,
with the United States Department of Justice's Civil Rights
Division, against the Los Angeles Superior Court, regarding the
court's application of existing state law that deemed ineligible
to vote conservatees who were not capable of completing an
affidavit of voter registration. The complaint asserted that
this practice constituted a violation of the Voting Rights Act's
prohibition on the use of a test or device as a prerequisite to
voter registration. The United States Department of Justice has
not yet responded to the complaint.
Last year, in response to the Spectrum Institute complaint, AB
1311 (Bradford), Chapter 591, clarified the voting rights of
conservatees. According to the author and supporters of this
bill, AB 1311 was helpful in clarifying current law to
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explicitly allow certain accommodations to conservatees in
completing the voter registration affidavit, but did not modify
the standard for determining when a disabled, conserved
individual is not competent to participate in the voting
process. This bill, which is sponsored by the American Civil
Liberties Union, builds upon AB 1311 by further clarifying
conservatee voting rights and modifying the standard for
determining when a disabled, conserved individual is not
competent to participate in the voting process.
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081