(Sacramento, CA) – Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana) announced that his Senate Bill 398 which criminalizes, among other things, the offer of a chance to win a lottery or similar prize-drawing contest to register to vote, was approved last week on the Senate Floor by a unanimous, bi-partisan vote of 38-0.

“This vote sends a clear message to Elon Musk and anyone else who may have ideas about monetizing election participation,” said Senator Umberg, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and member and prior Chair of the Senate Elections Committee.  “What Elon Musk has done in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin is spit in the face of our founders, longstanding campaign ethics, and federal election law.”

During the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election, South African billionaire Elon Musk founded “America PAC” to support Donald Trump in his candidacy for the White House. In October of 2024, Musk announced that America PAC would be giving away $1 million in a lottery to someone in a swing state who signed a petition under the pretense of supporting for the First and Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 

In March, Mr. Musk and America PAC again signaled their intention to award two Wisconsin voters each a $1 million prize for attaching their signatures to a petition pertaining to the state’s current Supreme Court election.  Vote buying is patently illegal federally and in every state. Musk and America PAC have claimed legality on the basis that they aren’t technically paying someone to vote in a particular manner.

Senator Umberg’s SB 398, would make it a crime for a person who knowingly or willfully pays or offers to pay money or other valuable consideration, such as lotteries, for another person to register to vote. A violation of SB 398 would be punishable by imprisonment for up to five years, a fine of up to ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both.

“We need to hold those like Elon Musk who seek to bend our institutions to their own selfish whims accountable,” stressed Senator Umberg. “If Mr. Musk wants to muck around in elections ethics, he can do that elsewhere.   My bill will make it clear that such interference in one of our most sacred duties as citizens is not welcome in California.”

The fact sheet for SB 398 is attached.  The measure now moves to the Assembly where it will be assigned to a policy committee for a second round of hearings.

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Senator Thomas Umberg represents the 34th Senate District which includes the cities of Santa Ana, Anaheim, Long Beach, Fullerton, Orange, La Habra, Placentia, South Whittier, and East Whittie. Umberg is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, and former federal prosecutor. He and his wife, Brigadier General Robin Umberg, USA (ret.), live in Orange County.