BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2101
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2101 (Fong)
As Amended May 20, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(May 6, 2010) |SENATE: |34-0 |(August 9, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
SUMMARY : Permits a court to prevent someone who is convicted of
initiative fraud or voter registration fraud from being paid to
circulate petitions or register voters. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Permits a court, upon conviction of a person for engaging in
prohibited voter registration activities, to order as a
condition of probation that the convicted person be prohibited
from receiving money or other valuable consideration for
assisting another person to register to vote by receiving the
completed affidavit of registration.
2)Permits a court, upon conviction of a person for engaging in
prohibited conduct regarding the circulation of an initiative,
referendum, or recall petition, to order as a condition of
probation that the convicted person be prohibited from
receiving money or other valuable consideration for gathering
signatures on an initiative, referendum, or recall petition.
The Senate amendments make a court's order to prohibit a person
from being paid to circulate petitions or register voters a
condition of probation, rather than making a violation of a
court's order subject to civil penalties.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was similar to the version
approved by the Senate, except that it provided that a violation
of a court's order to prohibit a person from being paid to
circulate petitions or register voters was punishable by civil
penalties of up to $50,000, instead of making the court's order
a condition of the convicted person's probation.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel.
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COMMENTS : According to the author, "Stories about voters being
misled into signing initiative petitions that they do not
support or having their party affiliations changed without their
consent are all to common. In the last two election cycles,
individuals registering voters in Southern California have been
arrested and charged in schemes to change voters' partisan
affiliation without the voters' consent. Additionally, numerous
complaints in recent years have uncovered a common tactic of
dishonest signature gatherers, who tell voters that they need to
sign multiple times to have their signature counted on an
initiative petition. These signature gatherers then get voters
to sign other initiative petitions without disclosing to the
voter what those petitions would do. Unfortunately, such
problems are all too common because people who register voters
or gather signatures on petitions are often paid a "bounty" for
each person that they register or for each signature that they
gather. As a result, signature gatherers and people registering
voters have a financial incentive to mislead voters to get them
to sign a petition or to re-register to vote. Previous efforts
to limit the ability to pay "bounties" for collecting signatures
on petitions or registering voters have failed due to concerns
that such laws may make it more difficult for grassroots
organizations to gather signatures on petitions and register
voters. In reflection of those concerns, AB 2101 takes a
narrower approach. AB 2101 cracks down on initiative fraud and
voter registration fraud by allowing courts to ban individuals
who are convicted of fraud from being paid to collect signatures
on initiative petitions or for registering voters. Law abiding
citizens who are paid to register voters and collect signatures
on petitions would not be affected by this bill. Instead, this
bill takes aim at those who have been convicted of fraudulent
behavior, and gives judges the tools to prevent those
individuals from continuing to threaten the integrity of
California's elections."
The provisions of this bill are similar to laws enacted in
Arizona and Oregon in 2009 which prohibit petition circulators
who are convicted of fraud from being compensated for collecting
signatures on initiative, referendum, or recall petitions. In
2009, Oregon's Legislature approved and the Governor signed HB
2005, which among other provisions prohibits a person from being
eligible to register as a petition circulator if that person has
had criminal or civil penalties imposed against him or her for a
violation of the state's laws governing the circulation of
petitions. In Arizona, the Legislature approved and the
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Governor approved SB 1091, which among other provisions
prohibits a person convicted of engaging in a pattern of
petition fraud from participating in any initiative, referendum,
or recall campaign for five years.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0005126