BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 66
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 13, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Cameron Smyth, Chair
SB 66 (Vargas) - As Introduced: January 6, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 38-0
SUBJECT : Imperial County: registrar of voters.
SUMMARY : Authorizes the County of Imperial to appoint a
registrar of voters separate from the county clerk.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the County of Imperial to appoint a registrar of
voters in the same manner as other county officers are
appointed.
2)Prohibits the County of Imperial's county clerk from being ex
officio registrar of voters.
3)Requires the County of Imperial's registrar of voters to
discharge all duties vested by law in the county elections
official that relate to and are a part of the election
procedure.
4)Declares a special law is necessary because of the County of
Imperial's need to reorganize the structure and duties of
county officers to reduce costs and increase productivity
within the county government.
5)Declares this is an urgency statute and goes into effect
immediately.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the Counties of El Dorado, Kings, Lake, Marin,
Merced, Monterey, Napa, Riverside, San Joaquin, Solano, and
Tulare to appoint a registrar of voters in the same manner as
other county officers are appointed.
2)Prohibits the county clerk in those counties from being ex
officio registrar of voters.
3)Requires the registrar of voters in those counties to
SB 66
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discharge all duties vested by law in the county elections
official that relate to and are a part of the election
procedure.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)In most counties, the county clerk is an elected officer who
serves both as clerk of the board of supervisors and as
registrar of voters.
State law authorizes supervisors in 11 counties (El Dorado,
Kings, Lake, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Riverside, San
Joaquin, Solano, and Tulare) to appoint a registrar of voters
separate from the county clerk. Supervisors in six of those
counties separately appoint a registrar of voters. In Mono
County, voters authorized county supervisors to appoint a
county clerk-recorder-registrar of voters.
2)According to the author, anticipating the retirement of the
county clerk-recorder-registrar
of voters, the Imperial County Board of Supervisors (board)
passed an ordinance in 2010 that removed the registrar of
voters' duties from the county clerk-recorder's office and
created a separate, appointed registrar of voters position for
elections conducted after January 1, 2011. The board, the
author says, received legal advice that led them to believe
these county offices could be restructured by amending county
ordinances without any change in state law. In 2010, a new
county clerk was elected with the voters understanding a
separate registrar of voters would be appointed by the board.
However, the county counsel's office recently determined a
change in state law is necessary before the board can legally
appoint a separate registrar of voters. The author says the
urgency behind SB 66 is due to the fact a special election
might be called later this year. There also is a scheduled
Imperial County Employees Retirement System election in May
and a scheduled water district election in August.
3)The California Constitution allows a county to adopt a
voter-approved charter that provides for consolidating and
separating county officers and specifies the manner of filling
vacant county offices. The registrar of voters is an
appointed office in eight of the 14 charter counties.
SB 66
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The Committee may wish to consider whether Imperial County
voters should directly decide through the adoption of a
charter whether the responsibility for Imperial County's
elections should be transferred from an elected official to an
appointed official.
4)AB 2246 (Garcia, 2004) would have added Imperial County to the
list of counties in which supervisors can appoint a separate
registrar of voters. AB 2246 was held in the Assembly
Committee on Elections, Reapportionment, and Constitutional
Amendments.
5)Support arguments: Supporters say giving the County of
Imperial the ability the reorganize its county officers and
appoint a registrar of voters will ensure elections are run
smoothly.
Opposition arguments: Opposition might argue the County of
Imperial should become a charter county if it would like to
reorganize its county officers.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
County of Imperial �SPONSOR]
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Klein Baldwin / L. GOV. /
(916) 319-3958