BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1768|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1768
Author: Fong (D)
Amended: 5/23/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 4-0, 6/17/14
AYES: Padilla, Hancock, Jackson, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/24/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : Declaration of candidacy: residence address
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides that at the discretion of an
elections official, a candidate for any office whose voter
registration is confidential, may withhold his/her residence
address from the declaration of candidacy.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires a candidate for public office to file a declaration
of candidacy that contains, among other things, the residence
address of the candidate.
2.Provides that a candidate for judicial office is not required
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to state his/her residence address on a declaration of
candidacy.
3.Requires an elections official to verify whether a candidate's
residence address is within the appropriate political
subdivision and add a specified notation on the declaration of
candidacy if the candidate does not state his/her residence
address on the declaration.
4.Establishes procedures to make a voter's registration
information confidential, including a voter's residence
address.
This bill provides that at the discretion of an elections
official, a candidate for any office whose voter registration is
confidential, may withhold his/her residence address from the
declaration of candidacy.
Background
Confidential Voter Registration . Current law permits any person
who is filing a new affidavit of registration or reregistration
with the county elections official to have the information
relating to his/her residence address, telephone number and
e-mail address appearing on the affidavit, or any list or roster
or index prepared therefrom, declared confidential upon order of
a superior court issued upon a showing of good cause that a
life-threatening circumstance exists to the voter or member of
the voter's household.
Current law also allows Safe at Home program participants to
have their voter registration information kept confidential.
The Safe at Home program, created by SB 489 (Alpert, Chapter
1005, Statutes of 1998) allows victims of domestic violence or
stalking to apply to the Secretary of State (SOS) to request an
alternate address to be used in public records. The purpose of
that program is to "enable state and local agencies to respond
to requests for public records without disclosing the changed
name or location of a victim of domestic violence or stalking."
The SOS provides a substitute, publicly accessible address for
these victims while protecting their actual residences or
locations. In 2002, the Safe at Home program was expanded by
means of AB 797 (Shelley, Chapter 380, Statutes of 2002) to
include persons working or volunteering in the reproductive
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health care field.
Subject to certain conditions, public safety officers can have
their residence address, telephone number, and e-mail address,
as it appears on their affidavit of voter registration, made
confidential by completing and submitting an application to the
county elections official and signing a statement under penalty
of perjury that a life-threatening circumstance exists to the
officer or a member of the officer's family.
Under these programs, any individual granted confidentiality is
considered a vote by mail voter for all subsequent elections or
until the county elections official is notified otherwise.
Confidential voters are required to provide a valid mailing
address to be used in place of the residence address for
election, scholarly, or political research, and government
purposes. The elections official, in producing any list,
roster, or index may, at his/her choice, use the valid mailing
address or the word "confidential" or some similar designation
in place of the residence address.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/18/14)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California State Sheriffs' Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Association of Clerks
and Election Officials writes, this bill "would add an
additional common sense protection to voters who are protected
by confidential voter status and who file to run for office.
Candidates for office are required to provide a residence
address on a Declaration of Candidacy which is used to determine
the candidate's eligibility to run for office. As the
Declaration is a public document, the provision of the address
undermines the voter-candidate confidential status. By
permitting an election official to verify the address of the
candidate and replace the address on the form with "verified,"
the purpose of providing the address is satisfied and the status
of the voter-candidate is protected."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 4/24/14
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AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nestande, Olsen, Pan,
Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner,
Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gray, Harkey, Mansoor, Nazarian, Vacancy
RM:e 6/20/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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