BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1233|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1233
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 5/25/12
Vote: 21
SENATE ELECTIONS & CONST. AMEND. COMMITTEE : 3-2, 4/19/12
AYES: Correa, De Le�n, Lieu
NOES: La Malfa, Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/24/12
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Dutton
SUBJECT : Initiative and referendum petitions
SOURCE : The Greenlining Institute
DIGEST : This bill requires the Attorney General (AG) 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), as
specified and the information be made available to a
potential signer of a petition who is limited English
proficient.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the proponent of a
proposed initiative or referendum to submit the proposal to
the AG who must prepare a circulating title and summary of
its chief points and purposes. The AG must provide a copy
of the title and summary to the Secretary of State (SOS)
CONTINUED
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within 15 days after receipt of the final version of a
proposed initiative measure, or if a fiscal estimate is to
be included, within 15 days after receipt of the fiscal
estimate prepared by the Department of Finance (DOF) and
the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) who have 25
days to prepare the fiscal estimate. The AG must provide a
copy of the circulating title and summary of a proposed
referendum measure to the proponents of the measure and the
SOS within 10 days after receipt of the proposed
referendum.
Existing law, pursuant to the VRA, as well as conforming
state law, requires certain jurisdictions with significant
populations of voting-age citizens who belong to a language
minority community to provide voting materials in languages
other than English. This requirement does not currently
extend to initiative or referendum materials prior to
qualification for the ballot.
This bill:
1.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 AG when submitting the text of the proposed measure
for preparation of the circulating title and summary.
2.Requires the AG to provide a copy of the circulating
title and summary and the list of counties identified to
the proponents to the Secretary of State.
3.Requires the AG to prepare a translation of the
circulating title and summary in any language covered by
the relevant minority language requirements of the VRA
for those counties.
4. Specifies in the event that the AG is required to
prepare a translation of the circulating title and
summary of a proposed initiative, the AG shall provide a
copy of the circulating title and summary, its
translation, and its unique numeric identifier to the
proponents and the SOS within 25 days after receipt of
the fiscal estimate or opinion prepared by the DOF and
the JLBC. The AG shall also provide the SOS with a list
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of the counties identified by the proponents. In the
event that the SOS receives from the AG a translation of
the circulating title and summary, the SOS shall provide
the relevant translation to the county elections
official in each count identified by the proponents as
specified.
5. Specifies in the event that the AG is required to
prepare a translation of the circulating title and
summary of a referendum proposal, the AG shall provide a
copy of the circulating title and summary, its
translation, and its unique numeric identifier to the
proponents and the SO within 20 days after receipt of
the proposed referendum. In the event that the SOS
receives from the AG a translation of the circulating
title and summary pursuant to subdivision shall provide
the relevant translation to the county elections
official in each county identified by the proponents, as
specified.
6. 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.
Background
The VRA outlawed discriminatory voting practices and
outlined a number of provisions aimed at providing all
eligible voters with the opportunity to exercise their
right to vote free from discrimination or intimidation. To
this end, Section 203 of the VRA as well as conforming
state law 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 provide voting materials, such
as a ballot pamphlet and sample ballot, in numerous
languages (see below). The VRA currently does not extend
to initiative materials prior to qualification for the
ballot.
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Below is a breakdown of the covered counties and minority
languages according to the Federal Register from October
11, 2011.
Statewide: 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
NOTE: Although Spanish translations are a statewide
requirement (e.g., the statewide ballot pamphlet), if the
minority language group within a certain county doesn't
meet the population requirements, then Spanish translations
aren't required to be provided.
Comments
Costs . Current law requires initiative measures to be
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translated in their entirety, including title and summary,
for the official state voter information guide, if it
qualifies for the ballot. Therefore, measures that qualify
for the ballot do not present an additional cost to the
state; SB 1233 would simply require the translation of
title and summary to occur earlier in the initiative
process.
However, translations for initiative and referendum
measures which do not qualify for the ballot will represent
new costs. According to the Office of State Publishing
which translates and prints the official state voter
information guide for the SOS, the following figures from
2010 illustrate the costs incurred for translation
services:
Spanish: 31 cents per English word ($31 for 100 word
title/summary)
Japanese: 26 cents per English word ($26 for 100 word
title/summary)
Chinese: 28 cents per English word ($28 for 100 word
title/summary)
Vietnamese: 20 cents per English word ($20 for 100 word
title/summary)
Korean: 27 cents per English word ($27 for 100 word
title/summary)
Tagalog: 20 cents per English word ($20 for 100 word
title/summary)
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, first
year costs of $155,000 and ongoing of $141,000 (General
Fund).
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/15/12)
The Greenlining Institute (source)
Berkeley Organizing Congregations for Action
California Church IMPACT
California Immigrant Policy Center
Common Cause
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Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
Empower San Diego
FAME Corporations
First AME Church of Los Angeles
Hmong American Political Association
MALDEF
Mission Language and Vocational School
NALEO
National Council of La Raza
United Hmong Mutual Union, Inc.
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the VRA protects the rights of limited English proficient
(LEP) voters by providing language accessible election
materials (i.e., official state voter's guide and sample
ballot) in their language. In California, the languages
covered by the VRA include Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese,
Japanese, Korean, and Tagalog among others.
According to the Migration Policy Institute, in 2009, 58.7
percent of the California foreign born population was LEP
and 46.5 percent of naturalized citizens age five and older
were LEP. Among the foreign born, 74 percent of those who
spoke Spanish at home were LEP and 57.5 percent of those
who spoke Asian and Pacific Island languages were LEP.
By failing to provide language appropriate petitions, LEP
voters are left out of the process of determining which
initiatives qualify for the ballot. As the initiative
system continues to play an important role in setting
policy in California, it is imperative to provide
initiative material in languages set by the VRA.
Providing ballot initiative petitions in the appropriate
language will allow LEP voters to become more engaged in
determining which issues initially will appear on the
ballot. Circulating initiatives and referenda are not
currently made accessible to voters who are limited English
proficient since they only come in English. This excludes
about 6.1 million LEP California residents from the
initiative process. This bill seeks to remedy this through
requiring translations of circulating initiative and
referendums under the VRA.
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DLW:do 5/25/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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