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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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