BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 245
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  June 10, 2014

                           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
                                Bob Wieckowski, Chair
                    SB 245 (Correa) - As Amended: January 22, 2014

                    PROPOSED CONSENT (As Proposed to be Amended)

           SENATE VOTE  :  33-0
           
          SUBJECT  :  FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA

           KEY ISSUE  :  SHOULD UPDATED DEMOGRAPHIC DATA BE ADDED TO CERTAIN  
          LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS REGARDING TRANSLATION OF SPECIFIED  
          DOCUMENTS?

                                      SYNOPSIS
          
          This is a non-controversial measure that proposes to add updated  
          demographic data to certain legislative findings regarding the  
          prevalence of languages other than English in California for the  
          purpose of substantiating the importance of certain translation  
          statutes.  The bill has no substantive effect on any legal  
          obligation.  No support or opposition has been received by the  
          Committee.

           SUMMARY  :  Revises statutory findings about language proficiency.  
           Specifically,  this bill  provides more recent data from the  
          Census Bureau regarding the number of persons in California who  
          speak a language other than English at home.

           EXISTING LAW  sets forth certain legislative findings and  
          declarations underlying specified translation obligations,  
          including that data from the United States Census of 2000  
          indicates that of the more than 12 million Californians who  
          speak a language other than English in the home, approximately  
          4.3 million speak an Asian dialect or another language other  
          than Spanish, that the top five languages other than English  
          most widely spoken by Californians in their homes are Spanish,  
          Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and Korean, and that together,  
          these languages are spoken by approximately 83 percent of all  
          Californians who speak a language other than English in their  
          homes.  (Civil Code section 1632.)

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  As currently in print this bill is keyed  








                                                                  SB 245
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          non-fiscal.

           COMMENTS  :  The author states the rationale for the bill as  
          follows:

               Civil Code Section 1632 lists five foreign languages into  
               which a variety of different financial contracts and other  
               financial documents must be translated.  Civil Code Section  
               1632 and the myriad other code sections that refer back to  
               it are intended to help Californians with limited English  
               proficiency better understand key financial contracts into  
               which they enter and other important consumer protection  
               documents they receive.  The code section was first enacted  
               in 1976.  The languages referenced in the section have been  
               periodically updated since that time, to reflect  
               California's changing demographics.  However, the code  
               section has not been updated to reflect census data more  
               recent than the year 2000.  

               SB 245 updates Civil Code Section 1632 to reflect the most  
               recent Census data available.  The language of the bill is  
               self-explanatory.  Because the five foreign languages that  
               are most commonly spoken at home in California households  
               with limited English proficiency are the same as the five  
               foreign languages currently listed in Civil Code Section  
               1632, SB 245 does not propose to change any of the  
               languages referenced in the section.  Instead, the bill  
               simply updates the findings in that code section, to ensure  
               that the California codes reflect the most recent Census  
               data.

           This Bill Has No Substantive Effect on Existing Law.   As the  
          author states, this bill simply codifies some additional and  
          more recent demographic data about foreign language prevalence  
          in California as part of the statute setting forth the  
          justification for various obligations to translate English  
          documents into other languages.  This data is derived from the  
          annual American Community Survey conducted by the Census Bureau,  
          rather than the decennial census conducted by the Bureau.   
          Although this new and updated data further demonstrates the  
          value of translation for the significant number of people  
          affected, the statutory changes made by this bill appear to have  
          no substantive effect.  Indeed, while the cited data is more  
          recent than the numbers reflected in the current statute, this  
          data will itself be quickly outdated with the rapid demographic  








                                                                  SB 245
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          changes California will likely continue to experience in the  
          coming years.  

           Author's Technical Amendment  .  In the interest of clarity and  
          consistency, the author proposes to replace the term  
          "Filipino/Tagalog" on page 2, line 27, with the word "Tagalog."
           
          REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           
          None on file
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on file

           Analysis Prepared by  :   Kevin G. Baker / JUD. / (916) 319-2334