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.
AB 1850 (Eduardo Garcia) Page 3
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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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