BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 193
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          Date of Hearing:   April 13, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                    AB 193 (Knight) - As Amended:  April 5, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:7-0

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

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Prohibits a single family home from being designated as a 
            polling place if it is the residence of a person who is 
            required to register pursuant to the Sex Offender Registration 
            Act (SORA).

          2)Requires elections officials, at a minimum, to consult the 
            database of registered sex offenders that is maintained by the 
            Department of Justice (DOJ) prior to designating a location as 
            a polling place.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor ongoing reimbursable General Fund costs for counties to 
          check the DOJ database for each single family residence polling 
          place and to locate a new polling place for those residence 
          found to be housing a registered sex offender.  Approximately 
          1,500 (less than 10%) of the state's polling places are in 
          single family residences. In addition to the database search, 
          assuming a new polling place location would have to be found for 
          1% of the homes, annual statewide costs would likely not exceed 
          $25,000.  

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . According to the author, newspaper articles published 
            this past summer highlighted the discovery of polling places 
            being located at the residences of registered sex offenders. A 
            rough search indicated there were 19 polling places in five 
            Bay Area counties that were listed on the Megan's Law website 








                                                                  AB 193
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            as the residences of sex offenders. The author explains that, 
            at polling locations include student volunteers and that 
            parents bring their children to the polls, thus there is an 
            expectation of security. The author argues that, when 
            information regarding sex offender locations is available on a 
            comprehensive public database, the counties consult this 
            database prior to designating a polling place. The most recent 
            amendments narrowed the bill to apply only to single family 
            residences.

           2)Elections Mandates  :  As recently passed by the Legislature, 
            the pending 2011-12 Budget suspends most existing 
            state-mandated local programs, including  all six existing 
            elections-related mandates, as a cost-savings mechanism. Among 
            the suspended election mandates are the requirement for 
            counties to allow any voter to become a permanent VBM voter 
            and to tabulate VBM ballots by precinct. This bill adds 
            another, albeit relative inexpensive mandate on counties.

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