Honorable Larry Taylor, Chair, House Committee on Elections
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2589 by Pena (Relating to the delivery of a voter registration application to the registrar by a volunteer deputy registrar; providing a criminal penalty.), As Introduced
The bill would amend the Elections Code as it relates to the delivery of a voter registration application to the registrar by a volunteer deputy registrar. Under the provisions of the bill, a volunteer deputy registrar commits an offense if the volunteer deputy knowingly causes a voter registration application containing false information to be delivered to the registrar. This new offense would be a state jail felony.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Expanding the list of behaviors for which a penalty is applied for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties and or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison. However, in the case of this bill, it is assumed that the number of offenders convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.