BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 786
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
786 (Levine)
As Amended April 21, 2015
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes |Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |5-1 |Ridley-Thomas, Gatto, |Grove |
| | |Gordon, Mullin, Perea | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |12-3 |Frazier, Achadjian, |Baker, Kim, |
| | |Bloom, Chu, Daly, |Melendez |
| | |Dodd, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, | |
| | |Gomez, Medina, | |
| | |Nazarian, O'Donnell, | |
| | |Santiago | |
| | | | |
|----------------+------+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |12-4 |Gomez, Bonta, |Bigelow, Gallagher, |
| | |Calderon, Daly, |Jones, Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Gordon, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, | |
| | |Rendon, Weber, Wood | |
AB 786
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SUMMARY: Makes changes to current law to ensure compliance with
the federal National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993, as
specified. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in coordination
with the Secretary of State (SOS), to the extent the State's
Plan for implementation of the federal NVRA is inconsistent with
the NVRA, to take additional steps to fully implement and
further comply with 52 United States Code Section 20504.
2)Requires the DMV, if a registered voter requests that the DMV
inform the SOS that the voter has moved to a different county,
to notify the county elections official in both the county from
which the voter has moved, and the county to which the voter has
moved, of the change of address. Requires these provisions to
become inoperative on July 1, 2016, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time General Fund cost of $2.35 million to the DMV
($1.25 million) and SOS ($1.1 million). This cost is based on a
recently-released budget proposal in the Governor's May revision
to provide software/hardware upgrades to the DMV's in-person
driver's license application process and online driver's license
renewal process and for related updates to the SOS' voter
registration systems. The proposal does not require separate
legislation.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "In 1993, Congress signed into
law a measure intended to make it easy for Americans to register
to vote when they apply for a driver's license. More than two
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decades later, California has yet to comply with that law? AB 786
will require the DMV to finally begin complying with the 22 year
old federal 'Motor Voter' law by allowing eligible voters to
utilize the driver's license and California ID card application or
renewal form as a voter registration form as well.
"This bill also addresses recent reports indicating that voters
are being removed from the rolls against their will when they move
from one county to another. These voters rely on DMV to process
their voter registration change of address. However, DMV and the
county elections offices fail to process the change of address in
a timely manner."
When the NVRA took effect in 1995, several states failed to take
the steps necessary to comply with the law and several also
challenged the constitutionality of the federal mandate. Three
separate lawsuits concerning California's implementation of the
NVRA were filed in federal court: Voting Rights Coalition v.
Pete Wilson, Pete Wilson v. United States of America, and United
States of America v. Pete Wilson. All three cases were combined
into a single proceeding and were heard before a federal district
court in San Jose on March 2, 1995. The court found the NVRA
constitutional, despite the lack of federal funding provided to
states, and the court ruled that California was obligated to
implement the NVRA. The court ordered the state to submit an
implementation plan to the court for review to ensure conformity
to the requirements of the NVRA.
The plan submitted by the state would have brought California into
compliance with the requirements of the NVRA, however, there was
one notable exception with respect to the method by which a person
may register to vote at the DMV.
The NVRA explicitly requires a driver's license or identification
application to be used as an application for voter registration,
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unless the applicant fails to sign the application. Additionally,
NVRA provides that the voter registration portion of a driver's
license application may not require any information that
duplicates information required in the driver's license portion of
the form, other than a second signature or other information that
is necessary to determine an individual's eligibility to register
to vote.
Despite the NVRA's clear requirements, the state's court-approved
implementation plan instead called for a two-page application -
one page for the driver's license application and one page for the
voter registration form.
Prior bill analyses suggest the rationale for this two-page plan
was due to cost, as the NVRA did not provide states with any
direct funding or any mechanism for reimbursement of the costs
associated with its implementation. The cost to create a single,
computer generated form to serve as both a driver's license and
voter registration application would have been significant.
Earlier this year a letter was sent to the SOS from American Civil
Liberties Union Foundation of San Diego and Imperial Counties,
Dmos, Morrison & Forester LLP, and Project Vote stating that
California is engaging in continuous and ongoing violations of
Section 5 of the NVRA. The letter also stated that it constituted
a formal notice of their intent to initiate litigation at the end
of the statutory 90-day waiting period should California fail to
remedy the violations of Section 5 of the NVRA, as specified.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion on
this bill.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0000646