BILL ANALYSIS
SB 812
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Date of Hearing: July 3, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Curren Price, Chair
SB 812 (Correa) - As Amended: April 23, 2007
SENATE VOTE : 22-13
SUBJECT : Voter registration: paid registration activities.
SUMMARY : Makes it an infraction to pay a person on a
per-registration basis to assist another person to register to
vote. Specifically, this bill :
1)Provides that any person who offers to pay or pays money or
other valuable consideration to another person, either
directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis to assist
another person to register to vote by receiving the completed
affidavit of registration is guilty of an infraction,
punishable by a fine not to exceed $500.
2)Provides that any person who receives money or other valuable
consideration, either directly or indirectly, on a
per-affidavit basis to assist another person to register to
vote by receiving the completed affidavit of registration is
guilty of an infraction, punishable by a fine not to exceed
$500.
3)Specifies that the prohibition on paying a person on a
per-affidavit basis for registering voters does not apply to
any state political party that reimburses its central
committees and clubs on a per-affidavit basis.
4)Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall not be
construed to prohibit payment for assisting another person to
register to vote by receiving the completed affidavit if that
payment is not, either directly or indirectly, on a
per-affidavit basis.
5)Makes various conforming changes to existing law.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires any person who accepts money or other valuable
consideration in return for assisting with voter registration
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to sign and affix on the voter registration form his or her
full name, telephone number, address, and the name and phone
number of the person, company, or organization, if any, that
agrees to pay money or valuable consideration for the
completed affidavit of registration.
2)Requires any person, company, or other organization that
agrees to pay money or other valuable consideration to a
person for assisting with voter registration to maintain
specific records.
3)Establishes penalties for fraudulent activity related to
signature gathering and voter registration.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Currently, some partisan groups and campaigns have adopted
a business model that pays a direct commission or "bounty"
to individuals to register voters with their party.
Unfortunately, this method of payment per-affidavit
encourages rampant fraud and forgery, including tampering
with party affiliation, registration of non-existent
persons, registration of non-citizens, and countless other
violations of election code.
This bill would remedy much of those problems by banning
the per-affidavit payment for soliciting voter
registrations. Anyone paid to solicit voter's
registrations would have to be paid in some other manner
than commission, (hourly wage, salary, stipend, etc.).
2)Orange County Voter Registration : In March 2006, the Orange
County Register and the Los Angeles Times reported that Orange
County elections officials received several complaints about a
voter registration campaign for the Republican Party of Orange
County from voters who were re-registered with the Republican
Party without their permission. According to press reports,
the company in charge of the registration drive was paying
workers as much as $10 for every completed voter registration
card. A payment made to an individual that is based on the
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number of individuals who are registered to vote is commonly
called a "bounty," and this practice is regularly employed in
voter registration drives. While such programs create
incentives to register people, they also create financial
incentives for the individuals who are registering voters to
commit fraud.
As of May 2006, Orange County elections officials reported
receiving about 450 complaints of illegal voter registrations.
Similar complaints were made about voter registration
campaigns in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
In January 2007, two of the twelve individuals involved in the
Orange County scandal admitted their roles and were sentenced
to three years formal probation and time already served. The
remaining ten individuals charged in the case are awaiting
court appearances.
3)Labor Law Implications : This bill prohibits the payment of
individuals on a per-piece basis for voter registration.
Typically, in California, those individuals who are paid to
register voters on a per-piece basis are independent
contractors. However, to the extent that this bill forces
individuals who are paid to register voters to be paid an
hourly wage, this bill could also result in these individuals
being considered employees under California law. As such, the
individual, corporation, or group paying individuals to
register voters may be required to pay minimum wage, provide
workers compensation insurance and unemployment insurance for
its employees, and maintain a payroll system.
4)Increased Costs : As noted in comment #3, those individuals or
groups paying people to register voters may be required to
provide certain benefits such as unemployment insurance and
workers compensation insurance. This may result in higher
costs to those groups that pay individuals to register voters.
In addition, prohibiting payment of individuals on a
per-registration basis could increase costs because it may
become more difficult to measure the work product of employees
who are being paid to register voters. Potential increased
costs may be partially offset if, by reducing the incentive to
submit fraudulent registrations, this legislation results in
individuals submitting fewer invalid registrations.
5)Related Legislation : AB 452 (Arambula), pending in the Senate
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Appropriations Committee, changes the current voter
notification card to also notify voters of any change in their
personal party affiliation upon re-registration and requires
that there be specific procedures to address complaints
related to voter registration. AB 452 is a response, in part,
to the voter registration complaints in Orange County that are
described above.
6)Previous Legislation : AB 2946 (Leno) of 2006 would have
prohibited the payment of an individual to register voters if
that payment was on a per-registration basis, among other
provisions. AB 2946 was vetoed by the Governor, though his
veto message focused on other parts of that bill, and did not
address the provisions of the bill that would have prohibited
bounty payments for registering voters.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Conference of Delegates of the California Bar Associations
People for the American Way
Opposition
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094