BILL ANALYSIS
AB 306
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Date of Hearing: March 31, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 306 (Fuller) - As Amended: March 19, 2009
SUBJECT : Elections: voter pamphlets.
SUMMARY : Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a
process to enable a voter to opt out of receiving the state
ballot pamphlet by mail and provides that this process will
become effective only after the SOS certifies that the state has
a statewide voter registration database that complies with the
federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the SOS to make the complete state ballot pamphlet
available to voters over the Internet.
2)Requires the SOS to mail ballot pamphlets to voters, except in
certain circumstances, before the election at which measures
contained in the ballot pamphlet are to be voted on.
3)Requires the SOS to mail ballot pamphlets between the 40th and
the 21st day before the election for those voters who
registered on or before the 60th day before the election.
4)Requires the SOS to mail one copy of the ballot pamphlet to
each registered voter at the postal address stated on the
voter's affidavit of registration, except that the SOS may
mail only one ballot pamphlet to two or more registered voters
having the same postal address.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
AB 306 will allow voters to opt out of receiving the state
voter pamphlet by mail from the Secretary of State, as this
document is already available on the Secretary of State's
website.
AB 306
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Individuals are now given the option of accessing documents
as vital as billing statements online rather than via mail.
Additionally, voters that are not located at their primary
mailing address in the weeks prior to an election, such as
those traveling abroad or military personnel, will not be
able to utilize the mailed voter pamphlet.
According to the most recent data available, each voter
pamphlet costs $0.71 to print and mail, and about 12
million are printed for each election. So for every
100,000 voters that opt out of receiving the pamphlet, the
state would save approximately $70,000 annually. It should
also be noted that in the November 2006 election, a larger
voter pamphlet resulted in higher General Fund costs
totaling $17.4 million.
The language of this bill is broad enough to allow the
Secretary of State to determine what the most
cost-effective and efficient process is for accomplishing
this. Moreover, because the current voter registration
database at SOS is incapable of incorporating voter
pamphlet opt-out requests, AB 306 would only become
effective once SOS has implemented its new statewide voter
registration database, which is scheduled to take place in
2010.
AB 306 is a simple and reasonable way to reduce state
costs.
2)Mountains of Mail : The SOS is required to prepare the state
ballot pamphlet and mail copies of the ballot pamphlet to
registered voters. The SOS also is required to mail the
ballot pamphlet to city and county elections officials,
Members of the Legislature, proponents of ballot measures,
libraries, high schools and institutions of higher learning.
In total the expense to the State for mailing state ballot
pamphlets for the November 2006 election exceeded $17 million.
By providing a method whereby a voter can select to
discontinue receipt of the ballot pamphlet by mail the state
may be able to reduce the cost of mailing additional and
sometimes unwanted copies of the pamphlet.
3)Accessing Ballot Pamphlets Online: The SOS is required to
provide the complete state ballot pamphlet online but not all
voters know that it is available.
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Voters who may be more inclined to review the state ballot
pamphlet online and opt out of receiving a mailed copy include
students studying abroad, military personnel on active duty or
out of the country, and individuals who travel for a living.
It is becoming exceedingly popular for families to purchase and
use home computers with Internet accounts. Coffee shops and
cyber cafes often offer consumers free use of the Internet.
Hotels advertise overnight accommodations with computer
Internet connections to their customers who may travel in the
course of business. You can even purchase a car that is
equipped with the means to download information from the World
Wide Web. Internet technology makes it possible for us to log
on and access web sites from any place, time or day of the
year.
Voters now have the option of researching ballot measures,
learning about the candidates or reviewing the state ballot
pamphlet all from the comfort of their homes by virtue of the
Internet. It makes sense to offer voters who may not want to
receive a hard copy version of the state ballot pamphlet the
option of requesting copies not be mailed to them.
4)Possible Amendments : Under existing law, the SOS is required
to send one ballot pamphlet to each voter at the postal
address stated on the voter's affidavit of registration except
when two voters share the same address. In the case of
college students or individuals who are residing in one
household, group home or an adult care facility, numerous
unrelated residents may have the same address listed on their
affidavits of registration and instead of receiving one ballot
pamphlet per voter, the entire household may only receive one
ballot pamphlet.
Under the provisions of this bill it is unclear whether one
voter in a household may opt out of receiving the ballot
pamphlet by mail and therefore deny other residents at the
same address the opportunity of receiving a ballot pamphlet at
their shared residence. Similarly if a voter opts out of
receiving the ballot pamphlet by mail, it is unclear whether
this bill would allow that voter to change his or her mind.
The Committee may wish to consider amending this bill to specify
that households will continue to receive ballot pamphlets
unless or until every voter who shares a common postal address
AB 306
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on their voter's affidavit of registration has chosen to
discontinue receiving the ballot pamphlet by mail. The
Committee may also want to include a process for voters to
begin receiving the ballot pamphlet by mail again if they
change their mind.
4)Previous Legislation : AB 1046 (Leno) of 2007 would have
required the SOS to notify voters that the state ballot
pamphlet is available online at the SOS Web site and that
voters could notify the SOS that they no longer desired to
receive the ballot pamphlet by mail. AB 1046 also prohibited
the SOS from sending ballot pamphlets to voters who opted out
of receiving it by mail. This bill passed out of this
Committee with unanimous support but was gutted and amended in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 1070 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 133,
Statutes of 2008, allowed the SOS to send only one ballot
pamphlet to a household where two or more registered voters
have the same postal address. Prior to the enactment of SB
1070, the SOS had to send one ballot pamphlet to each voter in
a household with two or more registered voters unless the
voters had the same surname.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lori Barber / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094