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)
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|COMMITTEE VOTE: |5-2 |(August 29, 2012) |RECOMMENDATION: |concur |
|(E. & R.) | | | | |
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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
pre-election 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
AB 216
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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,
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.
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4)Make technical and corresponding changes.
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. 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.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0005818