OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
sHB-5498
AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTION SECURITY AND
TRANSPARENCY, VARIOUS OTHER REVISIONS RELATED TO
ELECTION ADMINISTRATION AND STATE ELECTIONS
ENFORCEMENT COMMISSION COMPLAINTS.
As Amended by House "A" (LCO 5399)
House Calendar No.: 341
Primary Analyst: TM 5/3/24
Contributing Analyst(s):
Reviewer: PR
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Judicial Dept. (Probation) GF - Potential
Cost
Minimal Minimal
Resources of the General Fund GF - Potential
Revenue Gain
Minimal Minimal
Note: GF=General Fund
Municipal Impact:
Municipalities Effect FY 25 $ FY 26 $
Various Municipalities Potential
Cost
Minimal Minimal
Various Municipalities Potential
Savings
Minimal Minimal
Explanation
The bill makes a variety of changes concerning election security and
administration resulting in the fiscal impacts outlined below.
Sections 1 and 2, creates a variety of requirements around drop
boxes, including position and placement, video surveillance, and
retention of records resulting in a potential municipal cost. The Office of
the Secretary of the State (SOTS) distributed over 250 drop boxes at the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, to each town in the state. The
exact cost to municipalities will depend on the additional surveillance 2024HB-05498-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 3
and the security measures required.
Section 5 extends existing provisions for designee supported voter
assistance to patients in nursing homes under certain conditions prior
to an election, resulting in no fiscal impact to the state.
Sections 6 and 7 expand existing felonies and create a new class A
misdemeanor regarding election interference, which results in a
potential cost to the Department of Correction and the Judicial
Department for incarceration or probation and a potential revenue gain
to the General Fund from fines. On average, the marginal cost to the
state for incarcerating an offender for the year is $3,300 while the
average marginal cost for supervision in the community is less than $800
each year for adults and $1,000 each year for juveniles
Sections 18-23, conforms current practice regarding removal of
candidates from printed ballots by expanding the number of ways they
may do so, resulting in no fiscal impact.
Section 24, which requires the Chief State's Attorney to report on
certain complaints, is not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact as the
Division of Criminal Justice has the expertise to carry out this task.
Section 26 empowers registrars of voters to appoint themselves as
moderators in certain conditions for early in-person voting with
approval of SOTS resulting in potential savings for municipalities. The
savings would depend on the number of poll workers required to
facilitate early in person voting, and how many positions may be offset
by this provision.
Section 30 requires SOTS to review existing process for how
languages other than English are translated for appearance on ballots
where required to do so and create a report, resulting in no fiscal impact.
Section 31 creates several additional exceptions to information that
may be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act and results in
no fiscal impact. 2024HB-05498-R01-FN.DOCX Page 3 of 3
House "A" strikes the underlying bill and results in the fiscal impacts
described above.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to inflation.
The preceding Fiscal Impact statement is prepared for the benefit of the members of the General Assembly, solely
for the purposes of information, summarization and explanation and does not represent the intent of the General
Assembly or either chamber thereof for any purpose. In general, fiscal impacts are based upon a variety of
informational sources, including the analyst’s professional knowledge. Whenever applicable, agency data is
consulted as part of the analysis, however final products do not necessarily reflect an assessment from any
specific department.