BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 216
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 216 (Swanson)
As Amended August 15, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 31, 2011) |SENATE: |25-12|(August 21, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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(vote not relevant)
Original Committee Reference: HIGHER ED.
SUMMARY : Permits county elections officials to use
change-of-address information from consumer credit reporting
agencies, instead of using change-of-address information from
the United States Postal Service (USPS), for the purpose of
updating and maintaining the accuracy of voter registration
lists.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of the bill,
and instead:
1)Permit a county elections official, when conducting a
preelection residency confirmation procedure as required
pursuant to existing law, to contract with a consumer credit
reporting agency to obtain change-of-address data, in lieu of
mailing residency confirmation postcards or contracting with
the USPS to obtain postal service change-of-address data.
Require any such contract with a consumer credit reporting
agency to comply with the following conditions:
a) Require the elections official to provide the consumer
credit reporting agency with the name and residence address
of each registered voter in the county, except for the
names and addresses of registered voters whose
registrations are deemed confidential pursuant to specified
provisions of existing law;
b) Require the consumer credit reporting agency to search
its databases for each name and address provided by the
elections official and to report to the elections official
any information indicating that the registered voter
changed his or her address; and,
AB 216
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c) Provide that the consumer credit reporting agency may
use the information provided by a county elections official
only for the purpose of searching its database and
reporting to the elections official as described above, and
prohibit the credit reporting agency from retaining any
information received from the county elections official.
2)Require a county elections official who contracts with a
consumer credit reporting agency pursuant to the provisions
outlined above to send a forwardable notice, as specified, to
each voter for which the official receives change-of-address
information from the credit reporting agency. Require the
notice to include a postage-paid and preaddressed return form
to allow the voter to verify or correct his or her address
information. Require the elections official to take the
following action with respect to a voter for which the
official receives change-of-address information from the
credit reporting agency:
a) If the voter responds to the notice mailed as specified
above, and indicates that he or she has moved to a new
address within the same county, update that voter's
registration with the new residence address if the voter's
signature on the returned notice matches the signature on
file for that voter;
b) If the voter responds to the notice mailed as specified
above, and indicates that he or she has moved to a new
address in another county, cancel that voter's registration
if the voter's signature on the returned notice matches the
signature on file for that voter; or,
c) If the voter does not respond to the notice mailed as
specified above, and does not otherwise verify in a signed
writing that he or she has moved to a new residence
address, take no action with respect to that voter's
registration.
3)Specify that a voter's registration may only be moved to the
inactive roster of voters, and may not be canceled, if the
voter fails to vote in a specified number of elections and
does not respond to a specified residency confirmation
mailing.
4)Make technical and corresponding changes.
AB 216
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AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill allowed the California
Community Colleges to receive full funding for courses offered
in correctional institutions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS : Under existing law, each county elections official is
required to conduct a pre-election residency confirmation, as
specified, prior to each statewide primary election. Generally,
county elections officials may comply with this requirement by
mailing nonforwardable residency confirmation postcards to
registered voters, or by contracting with the USPS to obtain
change-of-address information. Elections officials believe that
allowing the use of credit bureau data in lieu of USPS
change-of-address data will be more efficient and will result in
more accurate voter registration records, because they believe
that credit bureau change-of-address data is more up-to-date and
comprehensive than USPS data.
This bill was substantially amended in the Senate and the
Assembly-approved provisions of this bill were deleted. This
bill, as amended in the Senate is inconsistent with Assembly
actions.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0004921