BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 245
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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
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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