BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
                              Senator Carol Liu, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

          Bill No:             AB 1850            
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          |Author:    |Eduardo Garcia                                       |
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          |Version:   |May 2, 2016                                 Hearing  |
          |           |Date:   June 8, 2016                                 |
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          |Urgency:   |No                     |Fiscal:    |Yes             |
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          |Consultant:|Kathleen Chavira                                     |
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          Subject:  Educational services:  permanent residents:  foreign  
          nationals


            SUMMARY
          
          This bill replaces the term "illegal aliens" with the term  
          "undocumented foreign nationals," deletes the word "illegal"  
          from any reference to "aliens,"  replaces references to "aliens"  
          and "immigrants" with the terms "permanent residents" and  
          "foreign nationals," and makes certain of its provisions  
          contingent upon the enactment of related federal law, as  
          specified. 

            BACKGROUND
          
          Existing law makes findings and declarations relative to the  
          federal Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (Public Law  
          99-603) (the Act), including stating that as many as 1,700,000  
          illegal aliens could be granted amnesty and would seek permanent  
          residency in California under the Act.  Existing law further  
          declares the Legislature's intent to establish a state test for  
          use by eligible aliens to attest to their understanding of  
          English and understanding of the history and government of the  
          United States, to meet the requirements of the Act.  (Education  
          Code § 32400)

          Existing law also uses the word "alien" or "resident alien" in  
          several sections of the Education Code, including sections  
          pertaining to the internment of Japanese Americans during World  







          AB 1850 (Eduardo Garcia)                                Page 2  
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          War II, adult education, Immigrant Workforce Act, and  
          postsecondary residency and non-resident tuition provisions.  
          (EC § 13000, § 52613, § 52651, § 68062, § 68130.5, and § 9505)

            ANALYSIS
          
          This bill: 

          1)   Replaces the term "resident aliens" with "permanent  
               residents" in provisions of the Education Code relative to  
               the internment of persons of Japanese ancestry during World  
               War II. 

          2)   Replaces the term "illegal aliens" with the term  
               "undocumented foreign nationals" and delete's the word  
               "illegal" from any reference to "aliens" throughout the  
               Education Code.

          3)   Replaces the terms "alien" and "immigrant" with "foreign  
               national" in Adult Education, Immigrant Workforce Act, and  
               postsecondary residency and non-resident tuition provisions  
               of the Education Code.  

          4)   Provides that specified provisions of the bill that  
               reference federal law are operative only upon notification  
               of the Secretary of State by the State Superintendent of  
               Public Instruction, by January 20, 2017 of the enactment of  
               specified federal law.

          5)   Makes other technical changes.

          STAFF COMMENTS
          
          1)   Need for the bill.  According to the author, the statutory  
               use of the term "illegal alien" to describe a person who is  
               not a citizen or national in the United States is  
               derogatory and antiquated. This bill removes the term  
               "illegal alien" from various sections of the Education  
               Code, and replaces it with the term "foreign national," or  
               other more appropriate terms, depending on the context.   
               The bill also recognizes the need for state terminology to  
               parallel federal definitions, and makes many of its  
               provisions contingent on conforming changes in federal law.  









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          2)   Related Federal legislation.  Legislation pending in  
               Congress, "Correcting Hurtful and Alienating Names in  
               Government Expression (CHANGE) Act"     (H.R. 3785, Castro)  
               would prohibit an executive agency from using "alien" and  
               "illegal alien" in any rule, regulation, interpretation,  
               publication, other document, display, or sign issued by the  
               agency, and would replace the term "alien" with "foreign  
               national," and "illegal alien" with "undocumented foreign  
               national." 

               This bill conditions replacement of these same terms in  
               federally related provisions of the Education Code upon  
               certification by the Superintendent of Public Instruction  
               to the Secretary of State of California that this  
               terminology has been changed in federal law.  

          3)   Similar legislation.  Last year the Legislature approved  
               and the Governor signed SB 432 (Mendoza, Chapter 160,  
               Statutes of 2015) which eliminated references to "alien"  
               throughout the Labor Code.  

            SUPPORT
          
          California Teachers Association

            OPPOSITION
           
           None received. 

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