BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2371|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2371
Author: Anderson (R)
Amended: 4/27/10 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS, REAP. & C. A. COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/29/10
AYES: Hancock, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Denham
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/13/10 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Secretary of State: voter registration fraud
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Secretary of State, upon
receiving a written complaint alleging a violation of the
Elections Code, to acknowledge in writing receipt of the
complaint to the person who made the complaint within 21
days of its receipt.
ANALYSIS : Existing law makes the Secretary of State
(SOS) the chief elections officer of the state and requires
the SOS to see that state election laws are enforced.
Under existing law, if the SOS concludes that the state
election laws are not being enforced, the SOS must call the
violation to the attention of the district attorney or the
CONTINUED
AB 2371
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Attorney General.
Comments
According to the author, "Assembly Bill 2371 is a voter
rights bill that promotes a responsive and accountable
treatment of voter concerns, and guarantees a transparent
process of handling complaints of vote fraud. The purpose
of AB 2371 is to reasonably provide voters with a process
that assures that concerns about voter registration fraud
are heard. Illegal tampering with the voter registration
process must be taken seriously, and open communication
between concerned citizens and the authorities responsible
for securing the electoral process is vital to the health
of our democracy."
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
negligible fiscal impact, as the SOS indicates the bill is
consistent with current practice.
(The SOS's Election Fraud Investigation Unit primarily
investigates criminal violations of the California
Elections Code. When a person files a complaint, a letter
is sent acknowledging receipt of the complaint. The
average response time to acknowledge receipt of a complaint
is approximately two weeks, depending on the time of year
(election season versus a non-election season).)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey,
Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries,
Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma,
Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello,
Nielsen, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas,
AB 2371
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3
Saldana, Silva, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines,
Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, Norby, Skinner, Vacancy
DLW:mw 8/3/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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