BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           84 (Hill)
          
          Hearing Date:  6/29/2009        Amended: 6/23/2009
          Consultant:  Maureen Ortiz      Policy Vote: ER&CA 4-1
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:   AB 84 requires local elections officials to  
          establish a free access system which vote-by-mail (VBM) voters  
          may use to find out whether their ballot was counted, and if  
          not, the reason why it was not counted.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
                                                                  
          Voter information               ------potentially minor  
          reimbursable costs----        General*

          *Reimbursable state local mandate
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          County elections officials do not anticipate any significant  
          costs resulting from AB 84, and free access systems already  
          exist via Internet web sites, or through toll-free telephone  
          numbers.  Existing law, SB 1725 (Bowen) Chapter 687 of 2006,  
          required election officials to establish a procedure to track  
          and confirm the receipt of VBM ballots, and to make this  
          information available by means of online access using the  
          county's elections division web site, or if none is available,  
          by means of a toll-free telephone number.  The effective date of  
          that requirement was March 1, 2008.  Therefore, there will not  
          be any new costs incurred by counties for the establishment of a  
          "free access system" since they are already required by law to  
          have implemented such a program.

          AB 84 will require the information accessible by VBM voters to  
          include whether the vote was counted, and the reason why if it  
          was not counted.  Current law requires elections officials to  
          compare the signature on the envelope with that appearing on the  










          affidavit of registration and reject ballots when the signatures  
          do not match.  Minor variations in signature matching are  
          allowed such as the use of initials for the first or middle  
          name, or both.  Other reasons why VBM ballots are sometimes not  
          counted is their receipt after the close of polls on elections  
          day, or the absence of a signature by the voter.

          SB 613 (Perata) Chapter 613 of 2003 required the establishment  
          of a free access system that allow voters who cast a provisional  
          ballot to confirm whether their ballot was counted, and if not,  
          the reason it was not accounted.  AB 84 will provide the same  
          abilities to VBM voters.

          This bill is similar to AB 2964 (Levine) which was vetoed by the  
          Governor last year due to the 2008-09 State Budget delay.