Budget Act of 2012: Governor's Scholarship Programs: vote by mail ballots and election result statements.

(1) Provisions of law that became inoperative on July 1, 2003, and that were repealed on January 1, 2004, established the Governor's Scholarship Programs under the administration of the Scholarshare Investment Board. Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature to provide explicit authority to the board to continue to administer accounts for, and to make awards to, persons who qualified for awards under the provisions of the Governor's Scholarship Programs as those provisions existed on January 1, 2003, and to provide for the management and disbursement of funds previously set aside for the Governor's Scholarship Programs. Existing law provides that the amount remaining in the Golden State Scholarshare Trust following a specified transfer is available as a reserve for funding claims for awards. Existing law additionally states the intent of the Legislature to provide a guarantee should additional funds be needed to cover awards authorized and made pursuant to the program. Existing law also requires the board to negotiate with the current manager of the program to execute an amended or new management and funding agreement, which would be required to include specified terms, including, but not limited to, terms that provide for the return to the General Fund of specified moneys appropriated to the Governor's Scholarship Programs. Of those funds transferred to the General Fund, this bill would appropriate $5,000,000 to the Chancellor of the California State University, without regard to fiscal years, to fund specified purposes relating to open education resources pursuant to legislation enacted in the 2011—12 Regular Session of the Legislature. The bill would prohibit all, or a portion, of that $5,000,000 from being encumbered unless at least 100% of that amount encumbered is matched by private funds, and would require the amount of the $5,000,000 that is not matched by private funds to revert to the Golden State Scholarshare Trust for purposes of the Governor's Scholarship Programs. (2) Existing law makes the vote by mail ballot available to any registered voter. Existing law requires that those vote by mail ballots be received by the elections officials from whom they were obtained or by the precinct boards before the polls close on election day in order to be counted. Existing law authorizes certain local, special, or consolidated elections to be conducted wholly by mail, so long as specified conditions are satisfied. Existing law requires ballots cast in these vote by mail elections to be returned to the elections official from whom they were obtained no later than 8 p.m. on election day. This bill would, notwithstanding the above provisions, provide that any vote by mail ballot is timely cast if it is received by the voter's elections official no later than 3 days after election day, and either the ballot is postmarked on or before election day or the voter has executed a declaration under penalty of perjury stating that the ballot was voted and mailed prior to 8 p.m. on election day. Because the bill would expand the duties of local elections officials, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the elections official to prepare a certified statement of the results of the election and submit it to the governing body within 28 days of the election, except for specified elections. This bill would instead require the elections official to submit the certified statement of the results of the election to the governing body within 31 days of the election. (4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions. (5) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.