BILL ANALYSIS
AB 306
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 306 (Fuller) - As Amended: April 13, 2009
Policy Committee: ElectionsVote:7-0
(Consent)
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a
process whereby voters can opt out of receiving the state ballot
pamphlet by mail. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that, in order for the mailing of a ballot pamphlet
to cease, all registered voters who share a common address
must opt out of receiving a mailed ballot.
2)Requires the SOS to include a process for voters to resume
receiving a mailed ballot pamphlet if they change their mind.
3)Makes all of the above effective only after the SOS certifies
that the state has a statewide voter registration database
compliant with the federal Help America Vote Act.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor absorbable costs for the SOS to notify voters-likely
through a statement in the ballot pamphlet and/or other
cost-effective means-of the availability to opt out of
receiving the ballot pamphlet by mail. Other processes
required by this bill are being incorporated into the
statewide voter database, which is currently under development
and expected to be operational in 2012.
2)Savings will depend on the number of households electing to
opt-out. Based on the last three elections, the SOS estimates
a cost of $0.55 to print and mail each voter pamphlet. (About
12 million are printed for each election.) Thus, for every
AB 306
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100,000 voters that opt-out, the state would save about
$55,000 annually in reduced printing and mailing costs.
Savings will increase over time as additional voters opt out.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . The SOS is required to prepare the state ballot
pamphlet and mail copies of the ballot pamphlet to registered
voters. The state's costs for printing and mailing state
ballot pamphlets for the November 2008 election were about
$10.4 million. By providing a method whereby a voter can
select to discontinue receipt of the ballot pamphlet by mail,
the state may somewhat reduce the cost of mailing sometimes
unwanted copies of the pamphlet.
2)Prior Legislation . In 2007, a substantially similar bill, AB
1046 (Leno) passed the Assembly Elections Committee
unanimously, but was subsequently amended in this committee to
address an unrelated issue.
SB 1070 (Budget and Fiscal Review)/Chapter 133 of 2008, allows
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.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081