BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1020 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1020 (Ridley-Thomas) As Amended September 1, 2015 Majority vote --------------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(May 22, 2015) |SENATE: |38-1 |(September 3, | | | | | | |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | --------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | | | | | | | | | | |COMMITTEE | |(September 9, |RECOMMENDATION: |concur | |VOTE: |5-1 |2015) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ (E. & R.) Original Committee Reference: E. & R. SUMMARY: Updates key Elections Code statutes and deletes obsolete provisions in anticipation of the deployment of the federally mandated VoteCal statewide voter registration database. The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill, and instead: AB 1020 Page 2 1)Update numerous sections of the Elections Code and delete numerous obsolete sections in anticipation of the deployment of the federally mandated VoteCal statewide voter registration database. 2)Repeal references in law to deputy registrars of voters and make conforming changes to related provisions of law. 3)Delete various existing provisions of law regarding the timing of acceptance of affidavits of registration and consolidate these and other related code sections into a single section that consolidates deadlines for voter registration, re-registration, and updating of registrations that also reflects anticipation of the start of conditional voter registration. 4)Make corresponding changes to the process whereby specified voters may apply for and receive confidential voter status in anticipation of VoteCal. 5)Provide that a person who obtains signatures or other information collected for a political party qualification petition shall not send that information outside of the United States or make it available in any way electronically to persons outside the United States, including, but not limited to, access over the Internet. 6)Make conforming changes to state law relating to preregistration, under which a person who is at least 16 years of age can preregister to vote, with the registration becoming effective once that person is 18 years of age. 7)Correct incorrect cross-references and delete numerous obsolete provisions of law. AB 1020 Page 3 8)Provide that this bill becomes operative only if the Secretary of State certifies that the state has a statewide voter registration database that complies with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002. 9)Add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems with AB 477 (Mullin) and SB 589 (Block) of the current legislative session. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS: HAVA requires every state to implement a computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained, and administered at the state level. At the time HAVA was approved, California was already using a statewide voter registration system, known as Calvoter, which achieved some of the goals of the voter registration list required by HAVA. However, Calvoter did not satisfy all of the requirements in that law, including requirements that the database be fully interactive and have the capability of storing a complete voter registration history for every voter. In order to meet the statewide voter registration requirements outlined in HAVA, California made upgrades to the Calvoter system to achieve interim compliance while the state developed a new permanent statewide voter registration system. The new system, which is currently in development, is known as VoteCal. The VoteCal system is currently on track for full implementation in 2016. This bill prepares for the deployment of the federally mandated VoteCal statewide voter registration database by updating key Elections Code statutes and deleting obsolete provisions of state law. AB 1020 Page 4 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: 0002322