BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 366
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Date of Hearing: July 1, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, Chair
SB
366 (Nguyen) - As Introduced February 24, 2015
SENATE VOTE: 37-0
SUBJECT: Ballot materials: translations.
SUMMARY: Expands the pool of qualified translators and
interpreters available to county elections officials for
translating voting materials, as specified. Specifically, this
bill deletes provisions of law that require an elections
official, when providing a Spanish translation of a candidate
statement or translations of ballot measures and ballot
instructions included in the sample ballot, to select a person
to provide the translation from the list of approved translators
and interpreters of the superior court of the county or from an
institution accredited by the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges (WASC), and instead requires an elections official to
select a person to provide the translation who is one of the
following:
1)A certified and registered interpreter on the Judicial Council
Master List;
2)An interpreter categorized as "certified" or "professionally
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qualified" by the Administrative Office of the United States
Courts;
3)From an institution accredited by a regional or national
accrediting agency recognized by the United States Secretary
of Education;
4)A current voting member in good standing of the American
Translators Association; or,
5)A current member in good standing of the American Association
of Language Specialists.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Declares intent of the Legislature that non-English-speaking
citizens, like other citizens, should be encouraged to vote
and therefore appropriate efforts should be made to minimize
obstacles to voting by citizens who lack sufficient skill in
English to vote without assistance.
2)Requires the Secretary of State (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,
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b) Post the translation(s) in a conspicuous location in the
appropriate polling place.
3)Requires the elections official to select a person to provide
the translation of ballot measures and ballot instructions
from the list of approved translators and interpreters of the
superior court of the county or from an institution accredited
by the WASC.
4)Requires an elections official to send to each voter, together
with the sample ballot, a voter's pamphlet which contains the
written statements of each candidate, as specified. Requires
the elections official to provide a Spanish translation of the
written statement for those candidates who wish to have one.
Requires the elections official to select a person to provide
that translation from the list of approved Spanish language
translators and interpreters of the superior court of the
county or from an institution accredited by the WASC.
FISCAL EFFECT: None. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose of the Bill: According to the author:
Current California law requires the translation of ballots
and other elections material into languages other than
English. This is an important part of making the voting
process fair and open, and making more accessible to voters
whose first language is not English. However, current law
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gives local elections officials very limited choices in who
they may contract with to translate these materials.
The Elections Code currently authorizes county elections
officials to use translators from only two sources:
translators approved the Superior Court of their county or
translators from an institution accredited by the Western
Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). WASC is an
institution approved by the US Secretary of Education to
accredit colleges and universities in California, Hawaii
and some US territories such as Guam and American Samoa.
This limited range of options can lead to unnecessary costs
and time delays, especially when multiple elections
officials contract with the same vendor.
SB 366 expands the pool of qualified translators, giving
elections officials much needed flexibility. Instead of
just local court certified translators the bill authorizes
the use of any California state or Federal court certified
translators, and instead of just translators from WASC
accredited institutions the bill authorizes the use of
translators from any similarly accredited institution
across the country. In addition, translators who are
members in good standing of either the American Translators
Association or the American Association of Language
Specialists, two professional associations known
internationally as leaders in the translation industry,
would be authorized for use by elections officials. All
translators that would be approved for use by this bill are
held to the same or better standards as the translators
already approved under current law. Creating these
additional options for elections officials will help
prevent potential backlogs and give them access to better
and more cost effective translators throughout California
and the country, allowing for a more efficient use of
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public money and resources.
2)Current Practice: Current law requires an elections official,
if a candidate who requests to have his or her candidate
statement which is included in the sample ballot be translated
into Spanish, to translate the candidate statement using a
translator or interpreter from two of the following resources:
1) a list of approved translators and interpreters of the
superior court of the county in which they serve, or 2)
approved translators or interpreters from an institution
accredited by WASC. Moreover, current law requires an
elections official to use either of these two resources when
selecting a translator or interpreter to translate ballot
measures and ballot instructions as required under state and
federal law. WASC is an institution approved by the United
States Secretary of Education to accredit colleges and
universities in California, Hawaii and some US territories
such as Guam and American Samoa.
This bill expands the list of qualified and certified
translators to translate ballots and voting materials and
requires an elections official to select a translator from the
following: 1) a certified and registered interpreter on the
Judicial Council Master List; 2) an interpreter categorized as
"certified" or "professionally qualified" by the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts; 3) from an
institution accredited by a regional or national accrediting
agency recognized by the United States Secretary of Education;
4) a current voting member in good standing of the American
Translators Association, or 5) a current member in good
standing of the American Association of Language Specialists.
3)New Census Data: On October 13, 2011, the United States
Census Bureau released a notice of determination of minority
language status following the 2010 census. Pursuant to
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA), the State
of California is required to provide bilingual voting
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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 VRA, 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.
Statewide: Spanish
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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,
Japanese, Korean
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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
The limited translator and interpreter options available make
it challenging for county elections officials to comply with
state and federal laws. According to the proponents, in many
instances, multiple county elections officials are contracting
with the same vendor which, as a practical effect, results in
unnecessary costs and time delays. This bill will provide
flexibility and options to elections officials to comply with
current law and meet the needs of California's diverse voting
electorate.
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4)Previous Legislation: AB 2003 (Fong) of 2013, would have
allowed the county elections official to select an accredited
translator registered with the American Translators
Association to provide, among other things, the translation of
ballot measures and ballot instructions. AB 2003 was never
heard in this committee.
5)Arguments in Support: In support of this bill, the California
Association of Clerks and Election Officials, writes:
Currently election officials may only use translators from
a local Superior Court or those certified by a single
association of colleges and universities. By adding
translators certified by other accrediting agencies to the
list of qualified translators, election officials will be
able to reduce costs and time delays in getting balloting
materials to voters.
This bill gives needed flexibility and options to election
officials across the state in meeting the needs of
California's diverse voting populations.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
Voz Interpreting
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Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916)
319-2094