Honorable Dennis Bonnen, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2909 by Klick (Relating to election practices and procedures; creating a criminal offense. ), As Passed 2nd House
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB2909, As Passed 2nd House: a negative impact of ($29,183,600) through the biennium ending August 31, 2021.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2020
($29,183,600)
2021
$0
2022
$0
2023
$0
2024
$0
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2020
($29,183,600)
2021
$0
2022
$0
2023
$0
2024
$0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill amends the Election Code to relating to election practices and procedures. In addition, the bill requires the Secretary of State to use available funds to provide certain reimbursements to counties for the purchase or retrofitting of auditable voting system equipment. The bill would also authorize a signature verification committee to compare signatures of mail-in ballots. The bill would require a majority vote determination by the committee that the same voter cast more than one ballot, which would be reported to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) and for further investigation.
The bill takes effect September 1, 2019.
Methodology
Based on analysis by the Secretary of State, 36 counties would be eligible for reimbursement under the provisions of the bill. This includes the retrofitting of approximately 7,100 eligible voting systems, and the purchase of ballot scanning units for approximately 1,300 voting precincts. The estimated cost of issuing these reimbursements is $29.2 million for the 2020-21 biennium. The Secretary of State has identified 20,000 other direct-recording electronic voting systems that would not be eligible for reimbursement under the provisions of the bill. Any other costs to update guidance on election practices and procedures could be absorbed within existing agency resources.
Based on information provided by the OAG, any additional costs associated with the signature verification provisions of the bill could be absorbed within agency resources.
Local Government Impact
Based on analysis by the Secretary of State, the replacement of direct-recording electronic voting systems not eligible for reimbursement under the provisions of the bill would present a fiscal impact to units of local government.