AB 1206 Hearing Update

AB 1206, the bill that would require California to join the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) cleared its first hurdle last Wednesday as the Assembly on Elections and Constitutional Amendments recommended a “YES” vote which moved it to the next step.

Thank you to the MANY of you who joined the hearing by phone to support our opposition testimony. EIPCa strongly opposes AB 1206 (check the links in the article linked HERE to review our talking points). We may have lost round #1, but your efforts were NOT in vain.

The legislative process is very long.

Each bill is heard in several committees in the house of origination, and if recommended by all committees then goes to a floor vote of all members of that house.

If successful on the floor vote, the process starts all over again in the opposite house.

We have the opportunity to file letters with all committees and to lobby our own legislators all along the way. And that is what we encourage you to do.

AB 1206 will next be heard by the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection.

EIPCa can make our strong point that ERIC severely compromises

the sensitive and private information of the state’s population.

If the bill is not killed in that committee, it will most likely go to the Appropriations Committee. It could cost the state about a million dollars a year to belong to ERIC and Appropriations will have to rule on whether it is a good fiscal move.

If you agree with our point of view on this bill, please follow its progress carefully, and call, email and visit your Assembly and Senate representatives often to make your opposition clear with informed and logical talking points.

There’s plenty of time for us to make a difference if we speak up and keep the pressure on. 

Good news!

So far AB 1206 has none of the usual organizations supporting it.

And….  There was no phone-in support during the hearing.

ERIC is not the most effective nor affordable voter roll maintenance tool. Its technology is outdated and its number ONE focus is swelling the voter rolls (including with potentially ineligible registrants), NOT voter roll maintenance.

Seven member states have now withdrawn from ERIC, and more are likely to follow. California would be wasting money and compromising its inhabitants’ identity by boarding this sinking ship.

If citizens put in the work to educate their representatives before they vote, we can keep California out of what will be a disastrous alliance with ERIC.

Keep the faith!