BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1233 (Padilla) - Initiatives: Circulating Title and Summary.
Amended: May 8, 2012 Policy Vote: E&CA 3-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 14, 2012 Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 1233 requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to
prepare a translation of the circulating title and summary of a
proposed initiative or referendum into the languages covered by
the Federal Voting Rights Act (VRA).
Fiscal Impact: First year costs of $155,000 and ongoing of
$141,000 (General Fund).
The Secretary of State anticipates the need for 1.5 PY at
the AGPA level.
Additional costs of between $20,000 and $25,000 for
translation services depending on the number of initiatives
filed each year (Office of State Printing estimates costs of
$230 per 100 word title and summary, for each language
translation.)
Background: The Federal Voting Rights Act requires jurisdictions
with sufficiently large limited English proficient populations
to provide elections materials in the group's language. In
California, this has meant that several counties are required to
provide voting materials, such as the ballot pamphlet and sample
ballot, in numerous languages. The VRA does not extend to
initiative materials prior to qualification for the ballot.
The Secretary of State currently is responsible for contracting
with a vendor to provide translations for voting materials that
have qualified for the ballot. It is at that time that all
ballot labels, titles and summaries for qualified initiatives
are translated along with other information in the Voter
Information Guide.
Following is a breakdown of the covered counties and minority
languages according to the Federal Register from October 11,
2011:
SB 1233 (Padilla)
Page 1
Statewide ballots: Spanish
Alameda: Chinese, Tagalog, Spanish, Vietnamese
Colusa: Spanish
Contra Costa: Spanish
Fresno: Spanish
Glenn: Spanish
Imperial: Spanish
Kern: Spanish
Kings: Spanish
Los Angeles: Asian Indian (Bengali & Gujarati), Chinese,
Tagalog, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Other Asian (Thai, Khmer,
Hindi), Vietnamese
Madera: Spanish
Merced: Spanish
Monterey: Spanish
Napa: Spanish
Orange: Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese
Riverside: Spanish
Sacramento: Spanish, Chinese
San Benito: Spanish
San Bernardino: Spanish
San Diego: Chinese, Tagalog, Spanish, Vietnamese
San Francisco: Chinese, Spanish
San Joaquin: Spanish
San Mateo: Chinese, Spanish
Santa Barbara: Spanish
Santa Clara: Chinese, Tagalog, Spanish, Vietnamese
Stanislaus: Spanish
Tulare: Spanish
Ventura: Spanish
Proposed Law: SB 1233 does all of the following:
a) Requires the proponents of an initiative or referendum
measure to submit a list of the counties in which the
initiative or referendum petition will be circulated to the
Attorney General's Office (AG) when submitting the text of
the proposed measure for preparation of the circulating
title and summary.
b) Requires the AG to provide a copy of the circulating
title and summary and the list of counties identified by
SB 1233 (Padilla)
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the proponents to the Secretary of State.
c) Requires the SOS to prepare a translation of the
circulating title and summary in any language covered by
the relevant minority language requirements of the Voting
Rights Act for those counties.
d) Provides the SOS with 10 days in which to prepare the
title and summary and its translation and provide copies to
the proponents and to the county elections officials.
e) Requires the circulator of an initiative or referendum
petition to make available a copy of the translated
circulating title and summary to each person whom the
circulator solicits in that language to sign the petition,
and to provide a copy of the translated circulating title
and summary to any person upon request.
Staff Comments: Under existing practice, the Secretary of
State's role with respect to circulating titles and summaries is
limited to a press release and a memo with the elections
calendar that is sent to county elections officials indicating
that the initiative has been cleared for circulation. Only the
English version is sent to counties along with it being posted
on the Secretary of State's Internet Web site. The Attorney
General's office is currently responsible for providing the
circulating title and summary to the proponents.
SB 1233 will maintain the requirement that the AG provide a copy
of the circulating title and summary and its unique numeric
identifier to the proponents within 15 days after receipt of the
fiscal estimate or opinion prepared by the Department of Finance
and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee but only if a
translation is not required. If translation of the title and
summary is required, the Secretary of State will be responsible
for providing a copy of the circulating title and summary and
its translation to the proponents.