Assemblyman Steinorth to introduce bills addressing animal shelters, ballot counting

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Story By Joe Nelson | The Sun

Assemblyman Marc Steinorth, R-Rancho Cucamonga, on Friday will introduce three bills aimed at curbing overpopulation at animal shelters, expediting the ballot counting process and providing greater scrutiny of proposed regulations by state agencies.

One of the bills, AB 363, would allow county election officials to begin processing ballots before polls close on election night.

Another bill would require that proposed regulations by state agencies that are expected to have a fiscal impact of $50 million or more be flagged and reviewed by the Legislature before taking effect.

The third bill would provide tax breaks to people who adopt pets from animal shelters, as well as tax breaks for any spaying or neutering services.

The latter two bills haven’t been given numbers yet, said Sam Chung, Steinorth’s chief of staff.

In San Bernardino County — which spreads out over 20,000 square miles, has a population of more than 2 million and has more than 800,000 registered voters — an earlier ballot count would greatly reduce the amount of overtime the Elections Office pays its employees, Registrar of Voters Michael Scarpello said.

“We have been working with the assemblyman on this particular issue, and we’re very excited about the possibilities in helping us speed up the ballot counting process,” Scarpello said.

In 2008, employees were counting ballots until 12:15 p.m. the day after the election. When Scarpello came aboard in 2011, he implemented sweeping changes that helped expedite the ballot-counting process, but still, it wasn’t enough.

In 2012, workers were in the office counting ballots until 6 a.m. the day after the election, Scarpello said.

Scarpello’s plan is to have two-person teams fan out across the county, retrieve morning ballots from the busiest polling places, return to the central office in San Bernardino and begin counting.

Steinorth’s proposed tax breaks for individuals adopting pets from animal shelters resonates in a county with one of the worst stray or neglected animal populations in the state.

Brian Cronin, division chief for San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control, said he supports any legislation that could increase adoptions at animal shelters.

“I personally support and believe that most of those who work with shelters would support any incentive or process that would encourage people to adopt homeless pets from animal shelters,” Cronin said. “The reality is all good animals need homes.”

Since being elected to the Assembly in November, Steinorth, a former Rancho Cucamonga councilman, has been busy shaping and drafting proposed legislation.

On Jan. 29, he and Assemblyman Bill Brough, R-Dana Point, introduced AB 201, which would allow local governments to adopt ordinances more restrictive than state law on where registered sex offenders can live and go in their respective cities or counties.

Dozens of municipalities statewide were sued last year by civil-rights attorney Janice Bellucci and forced to either revise or repeal their sex-offender ordinances. It came in the wake of a determination in January 2014 by the state 4th District Court of Appeals that sex offender ordinances in Orange County and the city of Irvine cannot impose restrictions more stringent than the state.

State law restricts registered sex offenders who are on parole and whose victims were under the age of 14 from visiting public parks without the permission of their parole agent.

“I think it’s going to be unsuccessful, in part because it’s been tried twice before and has been unsuccessful twice before,” Bellucci said of the proposed legislation by Steinorth and Brough. “I think the state is unlikely to delegate its authority down to local governments. We’re going to fight it, there’s no doubt about that.”

Meanwhile, Bellucci’s litigation streak continues. On Wednesday, she sued Lynwood, challenging the city’s sex offender ordinance. On Feb. 4, she sued Baldwin Park, and in January, Yucca Valley.

On Jan. 27, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, as part of a settlement with Bellucci, unanimously agreed to revise its ordinance and remove provisions establishing “predator-free zones,” including video arcades, public libraries, parks, swimming pools and museums.

The bill is now under review by the Assembly Rules Committee, then headed for the local government and public safety committees, with a policy committee hearing on track for either late March or early April, said Chung.

Read the original article at The Sun

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe Nelson covers San Bernardino County for The Sun, Daily Bulletin and Redlands Daily Facts. Reach the author at joe.nelson@langnews.com or follow Joe on Twitter: @sbcountynow

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