BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 145
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 145 (Pan)
As Amended August 20, 2012
2/3 vote
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: | |(June 3, 2011) |SENATE: |25-13|(August 28, 2012) |
| | | | | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(vote not relevant)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
|COMMITTEE VOTE: |5-2 |(August 29, 2012) |RECOMMENDATION: |concur |
|(E. & R.) | | | | |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |47-30|(August 30, | | | |
| | |2012) | | | |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: TRANS.
SUMMARY : Prohibits a person from paying another person or
receiving payment for registering voters if that payment is on a
per-affidavit basis.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of the bill,
and instead:
1)Prohibit a person from offering to pay or paying money or
other valuable consideration to another person, either
directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis to assist
another person to register to vote by receiving the completed
affidavit of registration.
2)Prohibit a person from receiving money or other valuable
consideration, either directly or indirectly, on a
AB 145
Page 2
per-affidavit basis to assist another person to register to
vote by receiving the completed affidavit of registration.
3)Provide that nothing in this bill shall be construed to
prohibit payment for assisting another person to register to
vote by receiving the completed affidavit that is not, either
directly or indirectly, on a per-affidavit basis.
4)Make corresponding and technical changes.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill repealed and recast
provisions establishing the High-Speed Rail Authority and
established the Department of High-Speed Trains.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : While some voter registration drives pay employees on
an hourly or salaried basis, other voter registration drives pay
workers a specified amount of money for each completed voter
registration card. In some cases, voter registration drives
that pay workers on a per-registration basis only pay workers
for voters who register with a specific political party, or pay
the workers a larger amount of money for voters who register
with a specific political party. While these per-registration
payments may create incentives to register voters with a
particular political party, they also may create financial
incentives for the individuals who are registering voters to
commit fraud.
In each of the last four election cycles, complaints have been
filed by voters who said they were misled into changing their
party affiliations. According to media reports of these
complaints, the voter registration workers who were accused of
misleading these voters were paid as much as $15 for each new
voter that the worker registered with a particular political
party.
In 2006, complaints were reported in Orange, Riverside, and San
Bernardino Counties. According to the Orange County Register,
11 individuals were eventually convicted of falsifying voter
AB 145
Page 3
registrations and other charges in connection with the
complaints in Orange County, and eight of those 11 served jail
time. In 2008, press reports focused on similar complaints in
Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties,
while in 2010, complaints were filed in Orange and Sacramento
Counties. In 2012, complaints were reported once again in
Sacramento County. In every instance, media reports of the
complaints indicated that the firms that were conducting the
voter registration drives or the individuals who were
registering voters as part of those drives were being paid on a
per-registration basis.
This bill is similar to SB 205 (Correa) of 2011, which was
vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, Governor Brown
wrote, "I understand the author's desire to stop fraudulent
voter registration. But I don't believe this bill - which makes
it a crime to pay people for registering voters based on the
number of registrations they secure - will help. Voting is at
the heart of our democracy. Efforts to register voters should be
encouraged, not criminalized."
This bill was substantially amended in the Senate and the
Assembly-approved provisions of this bill were deleted. As a
result, this bill was re-referred to the Assembly Elections and
Redistricting Committee pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2, and the
committee subsequently recommended that the Assembly concur in
the Senate amendments to this bill.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
Registration and voting fraud are issues raised not
only in California but across the country. It is
fundamental that we encourage both registration and
voting to the maximum degree while, at the same time,
carefully protecting the integrity of the process.
The provisions of this bill attempt to ban paying
people to obtain voter registration "directly or
AB 145
Page 4
indirectly on a per-affidavit basis."
Current California law provides criminal penalties for
voter registration fraud. Without more convincing
evidence that per-card incentives hurt the democratic
process, I am not prepared to ban them.
Analysis Prepared by: Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0005994