Riverside legislator introduces bill to watch

Assembly Member John J. Benoit (R-Riverside) has introduced a bill, AB 369, that would change the California code section requiring an accessible voter verified paper audit trail.

In its present form, the bill makes no substantive changes. It's what is referred to as a "spot" bill in the Capitol, essentially a placeholder should the author desire to amend his bill at a later point in the legislative session.

Several county registrars have been making public statements in recent weeks that they want to seek legislation this year that would suspend or delay the voter verified paper record requirement. California law was changed last year to require the paper record, after the Legislature unanimously passed SB 1438 and Governor Scwharzenegger signed the bill into law.

Anyone who is interested in monitoring AB 369 can subscribe to it through the Legislative Counsel's web site. Once subscribed, you should receive automatic updates any time the bill is amended or scheduled to be heard.