BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 817
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 7, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 817 (Bonta) - As Amended: April 29, 2013
SUBJECT : Elections officials.
SUMMARY : Authorizes county elections officials to appoint a
person who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States
(U.S.) and who is otherwise eligible to register to vote, except
for his or her lack of U.S. citizenship, to serve as a precinct
board member. Specifically, this bill : Provides that in order
to promote civic engagement among residents of the state and to
provide additional members of precinct boards, an elections
official may appoint not more than five nonvoters per precinct
to serve as precinct board members. Permits a nonvoter to be
appointed, notwithstanding their lack of eligibility to vote, if
the nonvoter possesses the following qualifications:
1)Is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.; and,
2)Is otherwise eligible to register to vote pursuant to existing
law except for his or her lack of U.S. citizenship.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that a person is entitled to register to vote if that
person is be a U.S. citizen, a resident of California, not in
prison or on parole for the conviction of a felony, and at
least 18 years of age at the time of the next election.
2)Requires a member of a precinct board to be a voter of the
state, except if the precinct board member is a pupil.
3)Provides that in order to provide for greater awareness of the
election process, the rights and responsibilities of voters,
and the importance of participating in the electoral process,
as well as to provide additional members of precinct boards,
an elections official may appoint no more than five pupils per
precinct to serve under the direct supervision of precinct
board members designated by the elections official. Prohibits
a pupil appointed to serve as a precinct board member from
tallying votes. Provides that a pupil may be appointed,
notwithstanding his or her lack of eligibility to vote,
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subject to the approval of the governing board of the
educational institution in which the pupil is enrolled, if the
pupil possesses the following qualifications:
a) Is at least 16 years of age at the time of the election
to which he or she is serving as a member of the precinct
board;
b) Is a U.S. citizen or will be a citizen at the time of
the election to which he or she is serving as a member of
the precinct board;
c) Is a pupil in good standing attending a public or
private secondary educational institution; and,
d) Is a pupil who has a grade point average of at least 2.5
on a 4.0 scale.
4)Requires elections officials to make reasonable efforts to
recruit election officers 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 skill
in English to vote without assistance. Requires an elections
official, at least 14 days before an election, to prepare and
make available to the public a list of the precincts to which
officials were appointed as described above and the language
or languages other than English in which they will provide
assistance.
5)Requires 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 in counties where the Secretary of State (SOS) has
determined it is appropriate. Requires the ballot to be
posted in other languages if a significant and substantial
need is found by the SOS.
FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
Over 2.6 million eligible voters in California are not yet
fully proficient in English, including 47% of eligible
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voters who are naturalized. Without language assistance,
these citizens face challenges in asserting their right to
vote and casting an informed ballot. This assistance
includes the recruitment of bilingual individuals to serve
as poll workers on Election Day. Many voters with language
barriers rely on bilingual poll workers to navigate the
voting process.
However, for large counties or counties with new language
obligations, the task of recruiting bilingual poll workers
can be daunting. As the diversity of the state increases,
new tools are needed to ensure that language assistance is
available at the polling place and in the voter
registration process. AB 817 addresses this need by
expanding the pool of available bilingual speakers to serve
as poll workers and other election volunteers. AB 817
seeks to replicate the successful high school student poll
worker program which a number of counties have used to
bolster their poll worker recruitment. AB 817 does not
impose any mandates on counties.
2)Voting Rights Act of 1965 : The 15th Amendment to the U.S.
Constitution provides, in part, "[t]he right of citizens of
the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by
the United States or by any state on account of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude." Additionally, the 15th
Amendment authorizes Congress to enact legislation to enforce
its provisions.
Congress determined that the existing federal
anti-discrimination laws were not sufficient to overcome the
resistance by state officials to enforce the 15th Amendment.
As a result, Congress passed and President Johnson signed the
Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA). The VRA provides, among other
provisions, that "[n]o voting qualification or prerequisite to
voting, or standard, practice, or procedure shall be imposed
or applied by any State or political subdivision to deny or
abridge that right of any citizen of the United States to vote
on account of race or color."
In 1975, Congress adopted the language minority provisions of
Sections 4(f)(4) and 203 of the VRA. Congress extended these
provisions in 1982, 1992, and 2006. Sections 4(f)(4) and 203
of the VRA require certain jurisdictions with significant
populations of voting age citizens who belong to a language
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minority community to provide voting materials in a language
other than English. These determinations are based on data
from the most recent Census.
Specifically, Sections 4(f)(4) and 203 require that when a
covered state or political subdivision "[p]rovides
registration or voting notices, forms, instructions,
assistance, or other materials of information relating to the
electoral process, including ballots, it shall provide them in
the language of the applicable minority group as well as in
the English language."
3)New Census Data : On October 13, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau
released a notice of determination of minority language status
following the 2010 census. Pursuant to Section 203, the State
of California is required to provide bilingual voting
assistance to Spanish speakers. Additionally, pursuant to
Section 203, 27 of California's 58 counties are individually
required to provide bilingual voting assistance to Spanish
speakers, and eight counties (Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange,
Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa
Clara) are required to provide voting materials in at least
one language other than English and Spanish. Pursuant to
Section 4(f)(4) of the VRA, three counties are required to
provide bilingual voting assistance to Spanish speakers,
though two of those counties are also required to provide
assistance pursuant to Section 203. In total, 28 of
California's 58 counties are required to provide voting
materials in at least one language other than English.
In addition, existing state law requires the SOS, in each
gubernatorial election year, to determine the precincts where
three percent or more of the voting age residents are members
of a single language minority and lack sufficient skills in
English to vote without assistance. According to a January 4,
2013, memo from the SOS's office, the SOS has contracted with
U.C. Berkeley for a preliminary analysis of county language
requirements for the June 2014 gubernatorial primary election.
According to the memo, based on a preliminary analysis of the
data, the SOS has determined that most counties show an
increase in the number of precincts with individuals who speak
the nine languages that are covered in California under
federal law (Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean,
Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese). Depending on the data, the
county elections officials will be required to translate a
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copy of the ballot and related instructions into the languages
indicated and post them at the appropriate polling places.
Below is a preliminary breakdown of the counties that will
have additional languages required under state law (new
languages are indicated in bold).
Statewide: Spanish
Alameda: Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi,
Japanese, Khmer, Korean
Amador: Spanish
Alpine: None
Butte: Spanish
Calaveras: Spanish
Colusa: Spanish
Contra Costa: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean
Del Norte: Spanish
El Dorado: Spanish, Tagalog
Fresno: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Khmer
Glenn: Spanish
Humboldt: Spanish
Imperial: Spanish
Inyo: Spanish
Kern: Spanish, Tagalog
Kings: Spanish, Tagalog
Lake: Spanish
Lassen: Spanish
Los Angeles: Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean,
Tagalog, Thai, Vietnamese
Madera: Spanish
Marin: Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean
Mariposa: Spanish
Mendocino: Spanish, Chinese
Merced: Spanish
Modoc: Spanish
Mono: Spanish
Monterey: Spanish, Korean, Tagalog, Chinese
Napa: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese
Nevada: Spanish
Orange: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Khmer
Placer: Spanish, Tagalog
Plumas: Spanish
Riverside: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese
Sacramento: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi,
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Japanese, Korean
San Benito: Spanish
San Bernardino: Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Khmer
San Diego: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Khmer, Korean
San Francisco: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese,
Japanese
San Joaquin: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Khmer
San Luis Obispo: Spanish, Tagalog
San Mateo: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Korean
Santa Barbara: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese
Santa Clara: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog,
Vietnamese, Hindi, Khmer
Santa Cruz: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog
Shasta: Spanish
Sierra: Spanish
Siskiyou: Spanish
Solano: Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese
Sonoma: Spanish
Stanislaus: Spanish
Sutter: Spanish, Hindi
Tehama: Spanish
Trinity: Spanish
Tulare: Spanish, Tagalog
Tuolumne: Spanish
Ventura: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog
Yolo: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog
Yuba: Spanish
4)Standard for Bilingual Precinct Workers : Existing law
requires an elections official to make reasonable efforts to
recruit elections officers who are fluent in a language if
three percent or more of the voting age residents in the
precinct are fluent in that language and lack sufficient skill
in English to vote without assistance. Additionally, existing
law requires each precinct board to post a copy of the ballot
in a language other than English at the polling place if the
SOS determines that 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 precinct. The author contends that due to
the new language obligations, as shown above, it may be
challenging for county elections officials to find elections
officers who are fluent in the new languages to assist voters.
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5)Students Serve as Precinct Board Members : Existing law allows
a high school student to serve as a precinct board member,
despite his or her lack of eligibility to vote, as long as the
student is 16 years old at the time of the election, is a U.S.
citizen at the time of the election, is in good standing at
his or her high school, and has a grade point average of at
least 2.5. County elections officials are allowed to recruit
up to five student poll workers at each precinct. The
provisions of this bill are similar to the requirements in
place for student poll workers. This bill seeks to promote
civic engagement among residents of the state and provide for
additional precinct board members by allowing the elections
official to appoint up to five nonvoters per precinct to serve
as precinct board members. A nonvoter may be appointed,
despite his or her lack of eligibility to vote, as long as the
nonvoter is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and is
otherwise eligible to register to vote, except for his or her
lack of U.S. citizenship.
Current law, however, prohibits student precinct board members
from tallying votes. This bill does not apply that same
prohibition to nonvoters. In order to be consistent, the
committee may wish to consider whether nonvoters should be
prohibited from tallying votes.
6)Technical Amendment : This bill, which permits a nonvoter to
be appointed to serve as a precinct board member as long he or
she is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. and is
otherwise eligible to register to vote, except for his or her
lack of U.S. citizenship, does not define the term lawful
permanent resident, nor does it refer back to an existing code
section in which the term is defined. While the term is
fairly self-explanatory, it may be helpful to reference
existing law. The committee staff recommends amending the
bill as follows:
On page 3, lines 7, after the word "States," insert the
following:
", in accordance with the provisions of Section 245A of the
federal Immigration and Nationality Act."
7)Arguments in Support : The National Association of Latino
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Elected and Appointed Officials, a co-sponsor of this measure,
writes in support:
Latino voters and all California voters would benefit from
the civic integration promoted by AB 817. The population
of Californians who are not yet fully proficient in English
is diverse and widespread. Currently, there are more than
2.6 million eligible Californians who identify as
limited-English proficient, from Del Norte County in
Northern California to San Diego County in Southern
California.
Nearly half (48.3%) of these citizens are Latino. AB 817
would ensure that limited-English proficient citizens can
cast an informed ballot and allows future citizens to serve
their community?
For the first time in California history, nearly the entire
state - 57- 58 California counties - will be required to
provide some form of language assistance to limited-English
proficient voters. AB 817 would help these jurisdictions
comply with federal and state law by enabling them to
recruit from a much larger pool of potential bilingual poll
workers. Additionally, AB 817 would ensure all eligible
voters can participate fully in the electoral process
regardless of their English proficiency and also promote
civic integration of future California voters.
8)Previous Legislation : SB 1233 (Padilla) of 2012, would have
required the title and summary of proposed statewide ballot
measures to be translated into the applicable languages
covered in that county. SB 1233 was vetoed by Governor Brown.
In his veto message, Governor Brown stated that "[t]he
provisions of this bill are well intended?however, they add
substantial burdens to the petition process without
commensurate benefit."
AB 1814 (Eng) of 2012, would have required counties to submit
a report to the SOS describing the county's plan for
compliance with state and federal laws enacted to assist
voters with limited English proficiency, no later than 120
days before the first statewide election, among other
provisions. AB 1814 was held on suspense in the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
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AB 817
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Asian Law Caucus (co-sponsor)
Asian Pacific American Legal Center (co-sponsor)
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
(co-sponsor)
American Civil Liberties Union of California
API Equality - Northern California
Asian American Center for Advancing Justice
Asian Americans for Civil Rights and Equality
Asian Pacific Environmental Network
API-Equality-LA
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
California Immigrant Policy Center
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment
Chinese for Affirmative Action
Filipina Women's Network
Filipino American Service Group, Inc.
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance
Greenlining Institute
Khmer Girls in Action
Korean Resource Center
Koreatown Immigrant Workers Alliance
League of Women Voters of California
Little Tokyo Service Center
Search To Involve Pilipino Americans
South Asian Network
Tenderloin Housing Clinic
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation
Thai Community Development Center
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094