BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1814 (Eng) - Bilinqual Voting Assistance
Amended: May 25, 2012 Policy Vote: E&CA 3-2
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 16, 2012
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 1814 requires county elections officials to
report to the Secretary of State (SOS) on their compliance with
various state and federal laws related to providing voters with
language assistance.
Fiscal Impact:
Although actual costs to counties is unknown, if each
county incurs expenses of only $10,000 for the reporting
requirements, mandated reimbursable costs would total
$580,000 in 2015 and biennially thereafter. (General)
The Secretary of State indicates the need for PY at the
AGPA level totaling costs of $70,285 annually, in addition
to a one-time cost of $5,000. (General)
Background: Existing law requires elections officials to make
reasonable efforts to recruit election officials who are fluent
in a language if three percent or more of the voting age
residents in any precinct are fluent in that language and lack
sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance.
Existing law requires, in counties where the Secretary of State
(SOS) has determined it is appropriate, each precinct board to
post, in a conspicuous location in the polling place, at least
one copy of the ballot with ballot measures and ballot
instructions printed in Spanish, and further requires the ballot
to be posted in other languages if a significant and substantial
need is found by the SOS. In making these determinations, the
SOS identifies if the number of residents of voting age in the
precinct who are members of a single language minority and who
lack sufficient skills in English to vote without assistance
equals three percent or more of the voting age residents in the
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precinct.
Existing federal law also imposes numerous requirements on
counties to provide voting materials in the language of a
minority group when that group within the jurisdiction has an
illiteracy rate that is higher than the national illiteracy rate
as specified.
Proposed Law: AB 1814 requires each county elections official
to report to the SOS regarding the county's compliance with
federal and state laws and regulations related to providing
voters with language assistance. Specifically, AB 1814 does the
following:
1. Makes various findings and declarations about voter
participation among voters with limited English proficiency.
2. Requires elections officials to make reasonable efforts to
recruit election officials who are fluent in a language for
any precinct where the county is required to post translated
sample ballots in that language.
3. Requires elections officials, when selecting members of a
precinct board, to evaluate complaints filed against precinct
board members, and to excuse those who are found to be
unsatisfactory in carrying out their duties in connection
with the conduct of the election.
4. Requires every county to submit a report, not later than
August 1, 2015 and not later than August 1 of each
odd-numbered year thereafter, to the SOS describing the
county's plan for compliance with applicable federal and
state laws and regulations related to providing voters with
language assistance.
5. Requires the SOS to issue guidance for a uniform standard
report format that will enable each county to comply with the
requirements of this bill.
6. Requires the county to include all of the following
information in its plan:
a. The plans for providing translated facsimile
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copies of ballots with ballot measures and ballot
instructions required to be made available at polling
places on election day;
b. The translated signage and ballot materials
to be provided to voters prior to election day and at
polling places;
c. The estimated number of bilingual precinct
board members necessary to meet the language needs of
voters with limited English proficiency and the
planned method to recruit a sufficient number of
bilingual precinct board members;
d. The methodology of assigning bilingual
precinct board members to polling places, including
the process for determining the need for bilingual
voting assistance in additional precincts to meet
state and federal language assistance requirements;
e. A description of the training provided to
precinct board members to educate them about
compliance with federal and state voting rights laws
and regulations including the best practices approach
used to assist voters, and any copies of precinct
member training curricula and handbooks;
f. The plans for conducting outreach to and
education of, voters with limited English
proficiency, including electoral activities, the
availability of translated materials and bilingual
assistance through the display of public notices, the
use of media outlets that serve language minorities,
and direct contact with organizations that serve
language minority populations; and,
g. The plans for operating voter hotlines that
can adequately respond to telephone calls from voters
with limited English proficiency.
7. Requires the SOS to post all reports required by this bill
on his or her website not later than 90 days prior to each
statewide election held in an even-numbered year.
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8. Requires the SOS to consult with an advisory body composed
of members from voting rights organizations, elections
officials, and other groups to develop a list of best
practices by January 1, 2016, for implementing all federal
and state laws and regulations listed above and for
implementing the SOS's precinct board member training
standards. The bill further requires the SOS to make these
best practices available to elections officials in a
centralized repository and post those best practices on his
or her official website, and to review biennially the best
practices and determine whether they need to be updated.
9. Provides that any county that is already required under the
federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 to furnish ballots in
languages other than English is not required to post a
facsimile ballot in those particular languages, and requires
the SOS, in those counties, to make determinations and
findings, as specified in existing law, as to whether it is
appropriate to post the elections materials in Spanish or
other languages, as specified by this bill.
10. Allows interested citizens or organizations, in
addition to or instead of providing information to the SOS
about the need for language assistance in a particular county
or precinct, to provide such information to a local elections
official so that the local elections official may determine
whether it is necessary to post a facsimile ballot at the
polling place in a language other than English.
11. Requires the SOS to make determinations and
findings, as specified in existing law, on whether it is
appropriate to post elections materials in Spanish or other
languages at each election year following an adjustment of
Congressional, State Senatorial, Assembly and Board of
Equalization districts boundary lines, as specified by the
California Constitution.
Related Legislation: This bill is similar to AB 614 (Eng) which
was vetoed in 2007. In part, Governor Schwarzenegger wrote,
""current law requires elected officials to provide language
assistance to voters with limited English proficiency. This
bill would require local elected officials to report on their
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compliance with current law on a standard form to be developed
by the Secretary of State. Such a report would be of limited
value and would place an unnecessary strain on the state's
limited resources."