Amendment 952 to Senate Bill 48 P.N. 0584, Regular Session 2019-2020

S0048B0584A00952 MSP:EJH 04/30/19 #90 A00952

AMENDMENTS TO SENATE BILL NO. 48

Sponsor: SENATOR HUGHES

Printer's No. 584

Amend Bill, page 1, by inserting between lines 13 and 14

D. Voting System Procurement Funding

Amend Bill, page 2, by inserting between lines 4 and 5

"Account." The Voting System Procurement Account established

under section 3134 (relating to Voting System Procurement

Account).

"Associated allowable expenditures." As follows:

(1) The following costs associated with a voting system:

(i) Servers and software.

(ii) Delivery, installation, configuration and

testing.

(iii) Warranties and software licenses purchased at

the time of initial acquisition with a term of at least

five years.

(2) The term does not include:

(i) Costs associated with training.

(ii) Additional costs associated with operating,

servicing, maintaining or insuring a voting system.

"Authority." The Pennsylvania Economic Development Financing

Authority.

"Department." The Department of State of this Commonwealth.

Amend Bill, page 2, by inserting between lines 8 and 9

"Financing law." The act of August 23, 1967 (P.L.251,

No.102), known as the Economic Development Financing Law.

Amend Bill, page 2, by inserting between lines 13 and 14

"Voting systems." Voting machines and associated allowable

expenditures.

Amend Bill, page 2, line 17, by striking out "this

subchapter" and inserting

subsection (b)

Amend Bill, page 2, line 18, by striking out "Plan" and

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inserting

Notice requirement

Amend Bill, page 2, lines 20 through 22, by striking out

"submit a written plan to the President" in line 20, all of line

21 and "Representatives" in line 22 and inserting

provide written notice to the commission

Amend Bill, page 2, line 22, by striking out "180" and

inserting

Amend Bill, page 2, lines 22 and 23, by striking out

"effective date of replacement, containing each of " and

inserting

disapproval or decertification, the written notice shall

contain

Amend Bill, page 2, line 24, by inserting after "The"

name or other description of the voting apparatuses

being disapproved or decertified and the

Amend Bill, page 2, lines 25 through 28, by striking out all

of lines 25 through 27 and "(3)" in line 28 and inserting

(2)

Amend Bill, page 2, line 29, by striking out the period after

"apparatuses" and inserting

, including a summary of the input received and

recommendations, if any, received from the commission under

subsection (c)(1).

Amend Bill, page 2, line 30, by striking out "(4)" and

inserting

(3)

Amend Bill, page 2, line 30, by striking out "replacement."

and inserting

t he disapproval or decertification and the date of the

municipal or general election in which replacement voting

apparatuses must be used.

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Amend Bill, page 3, lines 2 and 3, by striking out "receipt

of the written plan under subsection (b) by " and inserting

the effective date of this section,

Amend Bill, page 3, lines 4 and 5, by striking out ", a

c ommission shall be established " and inserting

shall establish a Voting System Decertification

Commission

Amend Bill, page 3, line 7, by striking out "Review the

written plan." and inserting

Consult with and make recommendations to the

department relating to the department's voting system

decertification plan, if a plan is available.

Amend Bill, page 3, lines 9 and 10, by striking out all of

said lines and inserting

issue of voting system decertification and voting

system security in this Commonwealth.

Amend Bill, page 3, lines 27 through 30; page 4, lines 1

through 4; by striking out all of lines 27 through 30 on page 3,

all of lines 1 through 3 and "(C) (D) " in line 4 on page 4 and

inserting

(A) A summary of the activities conducted by

the commission under subparagraphs (i) and (ii).

(B)

Amend Bill, page 4, line 5, by inserting after "necessary"

to ensure voting system security

Amend Bill, page 4, lines 8 through 12, by striking out all

of said lines

Amend Bill, page 4, line 21, by striking out "(III)" and

inserting

( i )

Amend Bill, page 4, line 24, by striking out "OR THEIR

DESIGNEES"

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Amend Bill, page 4, line 25, by striking out "(IV)" and

inserting

(ii)

Amend Bill, page 4, line 30; page 5, line 1; by striking out

"OR" in line 30 on page 4 and "THEIR DESIGNEES" in line 1 on

page 5

Amend Bill, page 5, lines 2 and 3, by striking out all of

said lines and inserting

(3) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall set a

date, time and place for the organizational meeting of the

commission, which shall be no later than 10 days after the

commission has been appointed. At the organizational meeting,

the members of the commission shall elect co-chairs who may

not be members of the same political party. The members also

may elect a vice chair and other officers.

Amend Bill, page 5, lines 8 and 9, by striking out "IN

COOPERATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT"

Amend Bill, page 5, by inserting between lines 14 and 15

(d) Construction.--Nothing under this section shall be

construed to interfere with the Secretary of the Commonwealth's

authority to revoke the approval of a voting machine that, upon

reexamination, can no longer be safely used by electors at

elections as provided under section 1106(c) of the Election

Code.

Amend Bill, page 5, by inserting between lines 20 and 21

SUBCHAPTER D

VOTING SYSTEM PROCUREMENT FUNDING

Sec.

3131. Declaration of policy.

3132. Powers of authority.

3133. Bond issuance.

3134. Voting System Procurement Account.

3135. County voting system grant program.

§ 3131. Declaration of policy.

The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:

(1) In January 2019, the Blue Ribbon Commission on

Pennsylvania's Election Security issued a comprehensive

report, which included recommendations, on the issue of

election security and the Commonwealth's voting systems.

(2) The commission found that "the bulk of

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Pennsylvania's voting machines are vulnerable to hacking and

manipulation" and "[t]his vulnerability stems from many

counties' use of insecure electronic voting systems that are

susceptible to manipulation and offer no paper record - and

therefore no way of verifying the tabulation of votes when

the veracity of election results is questioned."

(3) The commission concluded that the paperless machines

posed a "clear and present danger" and that "replacing the

systems with those that employ voter-marked paper ballots

should be the most pressing priority for Pennsylvania

officials to secure the Commonwealth's elections."

(4) The commission made the following recommendations:

(i) Counties using direct recording electronic

systems should replace them with systems using voter-

marked paper ballots, either by hand or by machine,

before 2020 and preferably for the November 2019

election, as directed by the department.

(ii) The department should decertify direct

recording electronic voting systems following December

31, 2019, if not sooner.

(iii) The department should not certify and counties

should not procure direct recording electronic machines,

not even with voter-verifiable paper audit trails, but

instead systems that tabulate voter-marked paper ballots,

which are retained for recounts and audits.

(iv) The Governor, General Assembly and counties

should explore creating financing mechanisms, such as

bond issuance, to assist counties with procuring more

secure electronic voting systems with voter-marked paper

records.

(5) As noted by the Blue Ribbon Commission on

Pennsylvania's Election Security, "Pennsylvanians, including

public officials, must recognize that election security

infrastructure requires regular investments and upgrades.

Our elections - and Pennsylvanians' faith in them - are not

free."

(6) The department and counties have begun the process

of updating our voting infrastructure. As noted by the Blue

Ribbon Commission on Pennsylvania's Election Security, "[t]he

cost of procuring new voting machine systems is not trivial

for counties." Nor should the counties' procurement of new

voting machine systems be an unfunded mandate.

(7) Ensuring that this Commonwealth's elections are

secure is an issue of Statewide concern, and it is in the

best interests of this Commonwealth to provide funding for

counties to procure new voting machines in the manner

authorized under this subchapter so that each resident can

have faith in the security of the Commonwealth's election

infrastructure.

§ 3132. Powers of authority.

In addition to its authority to issue bonds under the

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financing law, the authority may issue bonds for purposes of

providing financing to counties that purchase voting systems.

§ 3133. Bond issuance.

(a) Debt and liability.--

(1) Bonds issued under this subchapter shall not be a

debt or liability of the Commonwealth and shall not create or

constitute any indebtedness, liability or obligation of the

Commonwealth.

(2) Bond obligations shall be payable solely from

revenues or money pledged or available for repayment as

authorized under this subchapter.

(3) Each bond must contain on its face a statement that:

(i) The authority is obligated to pay the principal

of or interest on the bonds only from the revenues or

funds pledged or available for repayment as authorized

under this subchapter.

(ii) Neither the Commonwealth nor any county is

obligated to pay the principal of or interest on the

bonds.

(iii) The full faith and credit of the Commonwealth

or of any county is not pledged to the payment of the

principal of or the interest on the bonds.

(b) Limitations on bond issuance.--

(1) The authority shall issue bonds for voting system

reimbursements in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed

$150,000,000, unless the authority and the department

determine this amount is insufficient to carry out the

purposes of this subchapter. If the authority and the

department determine the amount is insufficient to carry out

the purposes of this subchapter, the authority shall adopt a

resolution to petition the Secretary of the Budget to

increase the maximum aggregate principal amount. If the

Secretary of the Budget approves the petition, notice of the

approval shall be sent to the Legislative Reference Bureau

for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.

(2) The authority may not issue bonds for voting system

reimbursements, except refunding bonds, after June 30, 2020.

(3) The authority, in consultation with the department

and the Office of the Budget, shall determine the principal

amounts of taxable and tax-exempt bonds to be issued during a

fiscal year.

(4) The maturity date of the bonds may not exceed 15

years.

( 5) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the

authority, at the request of the department, may issue

refundi ng bonds at any time while bonds issued for voting

system reimbursements are outstanding if the final maturity

of any series of bonds being refunded is not extended.

(6) Interest on bonds issued under this subchapter and

refunding bonds authorized under this section shall be

payable at a time as the authority shall determine in the

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resolution authorizing the bonds and shall be subject to the

provisions of the financing law.

(7) The aggregate principal amount of bonds under this

subsection shall not be subject to debt limitations on the

authority under the financing law.

(1) The authority and the department may enter into an

agreement or service agreement to effectuate this subchapter,

including an agreement to secure bonds issued for voting

system reimbursements, under which the department shall agree

to pay service charges to the authority in each fiscal year

that the bonds or refunding bonds are outstanding in amounts

sufficient to timely pay in full the debt service and any

other financing costs due on the bonds issued for voting

system reimbursements.

(2) The department's payment of the service charges

shall be subject to and dependent upon the appropriation of

funds by the General Assembly to the department for payment

of the service charges. The service agreement may be amended

or supplemented by the authority and the department in

connection with the issuance of any series of bonds or

refunding bonds authorized under this section.

(d) Review for form and legality.--For the purposes of

issuing bonds under this article, the duties of the Attorney

General under section 204 of the act of October 15, 1980

(P.L.950, No.164), known as the Commonwealth Attorneys Act,

relating to the issuance of bonds may be performed by the first

deputy attorney general.

§ 3134. Voting System Procurement Account.

(a) Establishment.--The Voting System Procurement Account is

established as a restricted account in the State Treasury.

(b) Deposit of bond proceeds.--The net proceeds of bonds,

other than refunding bonds, exclusive of costs of issuance,

reserves and any other financing charges, shall be transferred

by the authority to the State Treasurer for deposit into the

account. Money in the account shall be held solely for the

purpose of awarding grants to counties under section 3135

(relating to county voting system grant program). The department

shall requisition payments due to counties from the account. To

pay for expenses related to the administration of the county

voting system grant program, the department, with the approval

of the Governor and the authority, may charge a fee against the

proceeds deposited in the account.

§ 3135. County voting system grant program.

(a) Duties of department.--The department shall implement

and administer a county voting system grant program for purposes

of awarding grants to counties for costs incurred in procuring

secure voting systems in accordance with this subchapter.

(b) Requirements.--The county voting system grant program

developed by the department under subsection (a) shall meet the

following requirements:

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(1) Applications shall be submitted at the time and in

the manner prescribed by the department.

(2) Each county shall submit an itemized list of costs

incurred related to the procurement of voting systems with

its application.

(3) Grants may be awarded to counties to fund the

purchase of the voting systems or as reimbursement to

counties who have previously incurred costs in procuring

voting systems that have been approved by the department.

(4) Grants may only be awarded for costs associated with

procuring voting systems that have been approved by the

department.

(5) The maximum grant awarded to a county for each

voting machine procured shall be the lesser of 100% of the

cost of each voting machine or $5,000.

(6) The department shall set the maximum grant for

associated allowable expenditures which may not exceed 50% of

costs incurred by the county for associated allowable

expenditures.

(1) Within 30 days after the award of grants to each

county, the department shall submit a report to the chair and

minority chair of the following committees summarizing the

department's activity under this subchapter:

(i) The State Government Committee of the Senate.

(ii) The Appropriations Committee of the Senate.

(iii) The State Government Committee of the House of

Representatives.

(iv) The Appropriations Committee of the House of

Representatives.

(2) The report shall include the following information:

(i) Total debt incurred by the authority in

implementing this subchapter.

(ii) The debt service schedule for the bonds.

(iii) An itemized list of the counties that received

grants, the total amount of each grant and the costs for

which the grant was awarded.

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