CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION OF CLERKS AND ELECTION OFFICIALS
Minutes
County Clerk Legislative Committee Meeting
October 16, 2008
Sacramento, CA
Attendee Representing
Vicki Petersen Committee Co-Chair Sonoma County
Terri Lipscomb Alameda County
Barbara Chambers Contra Costa County
Frederick Garcia Sacramento County
Donna Allred Sacramento County
Cyndi Viall Orange County
Clancy Leland Legislative Representative
Matt Siverling Legislative Representative
Phone in Attendee
Lisa Vallejo Butte County
Marlene Smith Los Angeles County
Lisa Renteria Madera County
Victoria Rodriguez Riverside County
Jenny Stasik San Bernardino County
Karen Hong-Yee San Francisco County
Kenton Owyang San Francisco County
David Valenzuela Ventura County
I. INTRODUCTIONS
II. MINUTES
Vicki Petersen called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m. Vicki asked for a volunteer to take the minutes and Donna Allred volunteered. David Valenzuela volunteered to take the minutes for the entire year of 2009.
Approval of meeting minutes for August 21, 2008 by Marlene Smith and Terri Lipscomb.
III. MARRIAGE LICENSE ISSUES
Becky Martinez, Matt Siverling and Vicki Petersen met with the State Office of Vital Records. They aired the concerns we have with the November 17, 2008 marriage license changes and presented them with a work around overlay. The state will get back to us with further direction in the next few days.
Vicki stated that OVR is fully aware and understands the majority of counties cannot meet the November 17, 2008 deadline. Vicki said they discussed the pending AB 1168 and election in detail. They also discussed the lack of communication.
County Clerk Legislative Committee Meeting
Minutes 10/16/2008
Vicki felt OVR was receptive to the work around (overlay).
Barbara Chambers stated she was concerned with the duplicate licenses. She felt staff would miss putting the overlay on the duplicate.
David Valenzuela asked if there was a discussion on the AB 102 forms. Vicki stated that OVR knows the forms will change and depending on the outcome of the election, the forms could change again.
Matt Siverling said this could be strictly a political issue putting bride & groom back on the marriage license. Emotions are very strong. We need to be patient. Hopefully we will receive word sometime today or tomorrow from OVR. Matt said that OVR says this change has nothing to do with the lawsuit; it is because of complaints from couples. There is a pending lawsuit in San Francisco on this issue regarding the forms. The name on the lawsuit is “Lode”.
Matt asked if counties statewide were receiving complaints regarding the licenses not having bride/groom on them. The state said they were receiving 1000’s of complaints but very few counties have received complaints. Portia from Los Angeles County said they have received only one major complaint. Sacramento County had also received a couple of complaints.
Kenton Owyang asked if any counties were receiving licenses with bride and groom written on them. Vicki said we are not to register the licenses with bride and groom written on them. We are to contact our OVR policy analyst.
Victoria Rodriguez asked about changing the bride and groom information by using an amendment after the license is issued. Vicki said she would ask Karen Roth the question and Victoria was to contact her OVR policy analyst.
Barbara Chambers asked if Proposition 8 passes what would the effective date be and what if it is a close election? Is it effective the day after the election or is it 28 days to certify the election. Vicki said we would need to get legal counsel’s opinion for guidance.
Barbara Chambers stated that the Attorney General governs OVR. We need direction on many issues from OVR.
Vicki said she would contact Becky and put together questions to ask Dr. Linette Scott at OVR so we can get direction to share with our customers. Vicki said she would keep us posted.
County Clerk Legislative Committee Meeting
Minutes 10/16/2008
IV. LEGISLATIVE UPDATE
Matt Siverling reported that the governor vetoed over 1/3 of 1000 bills on his desk. The governor, due to the budget was forced to prioritize bills sent to him and sign bills that are the highest priority for California. If the bill was not of the highest priority, it was vetoed.
BILL STATUS BILL ASSIGNED TO COMMENTS
AB 1290 VETOED VICKI PETERSEN
- Sonoma
AB 1684 CHAPTERED DAVID VALENZUELA Present at New Law – Info only
Ch 433 - Ventura
AB 2231 VETOED TERRI LIPSCOMB
- Alameda
AB 2299 VETOED TERRI LIPSCOMB
- Alameda
AB 2304 CHAPTERED LISA RENTERIA No Impact - Delete
Ch 586 - Madera
AB 2592 CHAPTERED LISA RENTERIA No Impact – Delete
Ch 679 - Madera
AB 2801 CHAPTERED VICTORIA RODRIGUEZ Present at Lew Law – Info only
Ch 163 - Riverside
SB 1124 CHAPTERED DAVID VALENZUELA Present at New Law – Info only
Ch 709 - Ventura
SB 1279 CHAPTERED VICKI PETERSEN Training at New Law
Ch 351 - Sonoma
SB 1498 CHAPTERED VICKI PETERSEN Present at New Law – Info only
Ch 179 - Sonoma
SB 1696 CHAPTERED MARLENE SMITH Present at New Law – Info only
Ch 62 - Los Angeles
SB 1732 CHAPTERED MARLENE SMITH Present at New Law – Info only
Ch 63 - Los Angeles
V. NEW LAW WORKSHOP
Packets should be out for New Law. We will review Chaptered Legislation. Clancy, Matt, and Bill will do a presentation on Past, Present and Future Legislation. We will discuss AB 102 & New Marriage Forms. Karen Roth from the Office of Vital Records and Vicki Petersen will be on a panel to discuss AB 102. We will also discuss Mutual Problems.
John Tuteur from Napa County was dealing with Alicia Stewart from the Secretary of State’s Office in regards to the notary oaths that were sent to the Secretary of State’s Office but they never received them. He suggested we come up with an electronic process to send the notary files to the Secretary of State rather than paper copies that can get lost in the mail. We could scan the copies and send them via email.
County Clerk Legislative Committee Meeting
Minutes 10/16/2008
John Tuteur said Alicia Stewart from the Secretary of State said their offices may support a legislative proposal. Matt and Clancy were asked if we should ask the Secretary of State to move on this or just do it ourselves. Clancy said if we want this to happen we should move on it. He said we should work with the Secretary of State to put together a Bill. It was suggested we let John Tuteur know we are reviewing the possibility. He should help with the language since he thought of it.
The meeting in December will be at the New Law Workshop. The Clerks Reference Manual Meeting will be on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. David Venezuela told Vicki the Recorder’s will be meeting that same morning which would cause a conflict for Recorder’s. Vicki said we would talk about it at the Clerk Reference Manual Meeting next week.
Vicki asked those who will be presenting bills at the New Law Workshop to get their final summary to her by no later than November 15, 2008. Vicki will get the form out to those who have bills to present. Those who have bills that Chaptered will be called forward to present the bill.
VI. LEGISLATIVE PLATFORM
As of October 13th, 2008 only 13 counties have responded to the Legislative Platform that went out to the Principals of each county. Vicki said trying to follow up with the counties that didn’t respond could take a long time. The Legislative Platform will be presented to the Board Members at New Law. The low response could have been because it went out to the Principals who are busy with elections. Vicki asked if the committee wanted her to send the Legislative Platform back out to the counties she had not heard from yet. Vicki said she would send out one final reminder and give them until next Friday to respond and she will cc the Legislative Committee.
Next meeting will be at New Law Workshop on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 from 1:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
The meeting adjourned at 12:30 p.m.
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