AB 577

This bill makes a number of changes to current law regarding election officials.

Public access to records identifying an election official

The bill prohibits public access to records that contain the personally

identifiable information of election officials or election registration officials, except

that a public records custodian may provide access to the name and city and state of

residence of an election official or election registration official. Current law provides

a number of similar exceptions for providing public access to records. For example,

current law limits access to records containing personal information regarding

individuals who hold a state or local public office or the personal information of

applicants for a public position.

Current law also allows access to certain records that are not otherwise

accessible. For example, state agencies and local units of government may provide

records to assist legislative committees. The bill does not affect the operation of that

provision nor other similar provisions.

Causing bodily harm to an election official

Under current law, a person who intentionally causes bodily harm to another

person commits the crime of simple battery and is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.

Current law provides greater penalties for special circumstances battery, which is

defined as intentionally causing or threatening to cause bodily harm to certain

persons. For example, under current law, a person who intentionally causes bodily

harm to a public officer to influence his or her action or as a result of an action he or

she took is guilty of a Class I felony. The bill makes it a Class I felony to intentionally

cause bodily harm to an election official, election registration official, county clerk,

or municipal clerk who is acting in his or her capacity.

Harassing an election official

Current law prohibits an individual from harassing another individual over the

phone or over email or other computer messaging system. The penalties for such

actions range from a Class B forfeiture to a Class B misdemeanor depending on the

act, the intent, and the circumstances. This bill creates a Class B misdemeanor for

an actor who, with intent to frighten, intimidate, threaten, or abuse another

individual or an individual's family member, distributes via social media the

individual's personal identifying information if the actor knows or should know that

the distribution would likely result in the individual being subject to unwanted

contact, injury, or harassment. The bill creates a Class B forfeiture if the actor

distributes an individual's personal identifying information via social media with the

intent to harass or annoy the individual or a family member of the individual. This

bill increases the penalties for violating these harassment prohibitions (including

the ones created in the bill) by one penalty classification if the act is taken against

an election official while acting in that role, due to that role, or in response to an

action taken by the election official.