BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1443
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1443 (Chau) - As Amended March 26, 2015
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|Policy |Rules |Vote:|11 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
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| |Elections and Redistricting | |7 - 0 |
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|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a
Language Accessibility Advisory Committee, and requires the
appointees to either have demonstrated language accessibility
experience or be a county elections official.
AB 1443
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT:
No fiscal impact. This bill codifies and existing advisory body
established by the SOS.
COMMENTS:
Purpose. 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."
Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081