BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1443
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
AB 1443
(Chau) - As Amended March 26, 2015
SUBJECT: Voters: language accessibility.
SUMMARY: Requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a
Language Accessibility Advisory Committee, as specified.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SOS to establish a Language Accessibility
Advisory Committee.
2)Requires the Language Accessibility Advisory Committee to
consist of the SOS and his or her designee or designees and
additional members appointed by the SOS.
3)Requires the appointees to either have demonstrated language
accessibility experience or be a county elections official.
4)Requires the SOS to consult with and consider the
recommendations of the committee.
5)Requires the committee to serve in an advisory capacity to the
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SOS.
EXISTING FEDERAL LAW:
1)Requires a state or a political subdivision of a state 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, and the
number of the United States citizens of voting age in that
single language group within the jurisdiction meets at least
one of the following:
a) Numbers more than 10,000;
b) Makes up more than five percent of all voting age
citizens; or,
c) On an Indian reservation, exceeds five percent of all
reservation residents.
2)Requires a state or political subdivision of a state to
provide voting materials in the language of a minority group
if all of the following apply:
a) Over five percent of the voting age citizens were, on
November 1, 1972, members of a single language minority
group;
b) Registration and election materials were provided only
in English on November 1, 1972; and,
c) Fewer than 50 percent of the voting age citizens were
registered to vote or voted in the 1972 Presidential
election.
3)Defines language minorities or language minority groups, for
the purposes of the above provisions, to mean persons who are
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American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, or of
Spanish heritage.
EXISTING STATE LAW:
1)Establishes the SOS as the chief elections officer of the
state and requires that he or she ensure elections are
efficiently conducted and that state election laws are
enforced.
2)Declares intent of the Legislature that non-English-speaking
citizens, like other citizens, should be encouraged to vote
and that appropriate efforts should be made to minimize
obstacles to voting by citizens who lack sufficient skill in
English to vote without assistance.
3)Requires the SOS, by January 1 of each year in which the
Governor is elected, 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. For each specified precinct in
their county, elections officials are required to do the
following:
a) Translate a facsimile ballot and related instructions in
the specified language(s); and,
b) Post the translation(s) in a conspicuous location in the
appropriate polling place.
4)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 skill
in English to vote without assistance.
5)Requires, in counties where the SOS has determined it is
appropriate, each precinct board to post, in a conspicuous
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location in the polling place, at least one copy of the ballot
with ballot measures and ballot instructions printed in
Spanish. Requires the ballot to be posted in other languages
if a significant and substantial need is found by the SOS.
6)Provides that in determining whether it is appropriate to
require a county to post a copy of the ballot at the precinct
in a language other than English, the SOS shall find a need to
post such translated copies of the ballot 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 precinct.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
Nearly 16 million California voters receive materials in a
variety of required primary languages such as Spanish,
Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and
Vietnamese. Language accessible elections materials may
include registration forms, voting notices, voting
instructions, ballots, sample ballots, polling place
notices, and voter information pamphlets. AB 1443
establishes in the Office of the Secretary of State a
committee of appointed specialists to advise state and
local elections officials on best practices to address
language accessibility needs of voters.
2)Voting Rights Act of 1965: The 15th Amendment to the United
States Constitution provides, in part, "[t]he right of
citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or
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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
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 203 and 4(f)(4) require that when a
covered state or political subdivision "[p]rovides
registration or voting notices, forms, instructions,
assistance, or other materials or 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
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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 Voting Rights Act, 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 December
30, 2013 memo from the SOS's office, the SOS contracted with
U.C. Berkeley to determine which precincts have reached the
three percent threshold in the nine languages covered in
California under federal law (Spanish, Chinese, Hindi,
Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, Thai, and Vietnamese).
According to the memo, based on the analysis 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. Depending on the data, the county elections
officials will be required to translate a copy of the ballot
and related instructions into the languages indicated and post
them at the appropriate polling places.
Below is a breakdown of the counties that have additional
languages required under state law (new languages are
indicated in bold). According to the SOS's memo, these
requirements will remain in place through December 31, 2017.
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Statewide: Spanish
Alameda: Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Hindi,
Japanese, Khmer, Korean
Alpine: None
Amador: Spanish
Butte: Spanish
Calaveras: Spanish
Colusa: Spanish
Contra Costa: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Japanese, Korean,
Vietnamese
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, Chinese
Mariposa: Spanish
Mendocino: Spanish, Chinese
Merced: Spanish
Modoc: Spanish
Mono: Spanish
Monterey: Spanish, Korean, Tagalog, Chinese, Vietnamese
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, Hindi
San Francisco: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese,
Japanese
San Joaquin: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Khmer,
Hindi
San Luis Obispo: Spanish, Tagalog
San Mateo: Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Hindi
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, Hindi, Khmer
Sutter: Spanish, Hindi
Tehama: Spanish
Trinity: Spanish
Tulare: Spanish, Tagalog
Tuolumne: Spanish
Ventura: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Hindi
Yolo: Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Hindi
Yuba: Spanish
In an effort to improve the voting experience for California's
diverse electorate, this bill establishes and codifies in the
Elections Code the Language Accessibility Advisory Committee.
The Language Accessibility Advisory Committee is required to be
comprised of language experts and elections officials to advise
the SOS. According to the sponsor of this bill, this committee
will advise the SOS on best practices, review translated
materials, and provide important perspectives from California's
language minority communities.
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4)Arguments in Support: In support, the Greenlining Institute,
writes:
Federal and State laws contain numerous requirements for
state and local elections officials to accommodate language
accessibility for the state's voting electorate. Many
interested citizens and organizations agree that these laws
provide a starting point for improving the voting
experience along language accessibility lines.
Nearly 16 million California voters receive materials in a
variety of required primary languages such as Spanish,
Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Tagalog, and
Vietnamese? Language accessibility issues and challenges
grow over time and change from one election to the next.
While the law provides a list of covered voters, the law is
silent on methods or best practices to serve the multiple
language needs of voters.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Secretary of State Alex Padilla (sponsor)
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American Civil Liberties Union of California
Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles
Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment
Greenlining Institute
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials
Education Fund
Voz Interpreting
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
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