BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 330
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 22, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                AB 330 (Saldana) - As Introduced:  February 18, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires county elections officials to provide at  
          least a five-day public notice of the date, time, and location  
          of (a) the testing conducted on ballot tabulating devices prior  
          to an election to ensure that the tabulating devices accurately  
          record votes, and (b) the preparation and operation of the  
          tabulating devices and the programming and testing of those  
          devices.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible annual reimbursable costs for county elections  
          officials to provide the required public notices.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpose  .  Current law requires the elections officials, within  
          seven days prior to each election, to conduct tests to ensure  
          that every device used to tabulate ballots accurately records  
          each vote.  Current law also permits each qualified political  
          party, any bona fide association of citizens, and any media  
          organization to have representatives present at the central vote  
          counting place or places to check and review the preparation and  
          operation of the tabulating devices and their programming and  
          testing.  The author believes that requiring advance public  
          notice of these procedures will ensure that members of the  
          public have ample opportunity to observe important aspects of  
          the voting process.  This bill is sponsored by the Secretary of  
          State.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081