CA Sen. Debra Bowen (hopefully our next SoS) -- Her Current Legislation

[nicknameless]

E-mail from yesterday (Sept. 8)

Last week, I wrapped up a very busy legislative session in the California State Senate, and I think we accomplished a great deal for the people of our state. I'm very proud of the bills that I authored and that the Senate and Assembly passed, and I look forward to seeing the Governor sign these bills into law.

Not surprisingly, much of my legislation focuses on improving our elections system. It's work that I look forward to continuing as California's next Secretary of State!

Here's a quick look at what a few of my new bills will do:

* SB 1747: Opening up voting machines to more inspections. Current law restricts the ability of people to inspect voting machines, limiting it to county central committees who can send in "data processing specialists or engineers." My bill expands it to every qualified political party, removes the requirement that they be "data processing specialists or engineers," and permits up to 10 people from a "bonafide collection of citizens."

* SB 1598: Initiative reform. This bill requires initiative signature gatherers to disclose whether they're paid or are volunteers. What's more, the top five contributors to any initiative campaign must be listed at the top of each petition being circulated.

* SB 1725: Making sure absentee voters know their votes have been counted. Requires counties to "track" absentee ballots so a voter can call in and check to see if their ballot arrived. No more wondering if your vote was counted!

* SB 1193: Engaging our youth in the political process. Exposes students to the workings of our elections system by allowing them to qualify for "independent study" to work at the polls. Currently, many schools won't let students take the day off to work in the polls because they'll lose the "average daily attendance" (ADA) payments they get from the state (about $44 per student, per day). My bill makes sure that schools can receive ADA for the time those students are out of the classroom.

* SB 1760: Protecting our electoral paper trail. Governor Schwarzenegger signed this bill into law late last month, which is focused on improving the integrity of California elections. This new law precludes the Secretary of State from certifying any voting system unless the paper ballots and the accessible voter-verified paper audit trail (AVVPAT) retain their integrity and readability for 22 months. That's how long, under current law, elections officials are required to retain these documents.

That's just a quick look at a few of my bills that have passed the Legislature and are on the way to the Governor's desk. I think, collectively, they'll address some of the problems with California's elections system.

But we still have so much work to do. The Governor has until September 30th to sign these bill into law, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on their progress.

Improving our elections system is what I'll be talking about over these last 60 days of my campaign for Secretary of State -- and I hope I can count on your continued support!

Sincerely,

Debra Bowen
California State Senator

[keepCAblue]

1. Go Debra!! You've got my vote !!! n/t

[nicknameless]

2. It's great to have someone like Debra fighting for us.

I like your sig animation. Especially the "spay and neuter" suggestion. :)

[keepCAblue]

3. We've GOT to get rid of McPherson before he pulls a Blackwell on us.

Thanks for the compliment on my animated sig. Those images are actually bumper stickers I designed and sell through my cafepress shop, Mass Madness Designs. The "Spay and Neuter Republicans" disign is my biggest selling item (which suggests maybe there's hope for this country :D )

[nicknameless]

4. Agreed. McPherson has got to go.

Love the bumper stickers! :)