BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           101 (Anderson)
          
          Hearing Date:  8/27/2009        Amended: As Introduced
                                                                            
              & As Proposed to be Amended
          Consultant:  Maureen Ortiz      Policy Vote: ER&CA 5-0
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY:   AB 101 requires county elections officials to  
          inform vote by mail (VBM) voters that their ballot must be  
          actually received by elections officials before the polls close  
          on elections day in order to be counted.  The bill allows the  
          notice to be either on the identification envelope or in the  
          ballot materials.

          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2009-10      2010-11       2011-12     Fund
                                                                  
          Notice to voters                      ----likely less than $100  
          per election--------        General*

          *Reimbursable state local mandate
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS:  SUSPENSE FILE.

          The author's proposed amendment will allow counties to exhaust  
          their existing supplies of envelopes before having to comply  
          with the notification requirement.
          
          Since this bill allows the counties to either print the notice  
          on the identification envelope or enclose an insert with the  
          ballot materials, most counties will probably use an insert  
          until the current supply of envelopes is exhausted.  At that  
          time, the notice could be printed on the identification envelope  
          and future costs would be negligible.

          Over 9 million Californians cast their votes by mail during the  
          February 5, 2008 Presidential Primary Election.  As this trend  










          grows, it is important that voters understand that their ballot  
          must be actually received by the elections official before the  
          close of polls on elections day, and that a postmark of that day  
          is not sufficient.

          Prior to 1978, only voters who had certified medical excuses or  
          who would be out of town on the day of the election were allowed  
          to vote absentee.  Since 1978, every registered Californian has  
          been allowed to cast a ballot by mail.  In 2001, California  
          permitted any voter to register as a permanent vote-by-mail  
          voter.

          This bill is identical to AB 1928 (Anderson) which was vetoed by  
          the Governor last year due to the 2008-09 Budget Act delay.