Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation Friday that would have required ballot initiatives and recall petitions to be translated into other languages before they could be circulated for signatures.
Under existing law, proponents of a ballot measure or a petition to recall a state officer must submit it to the Attorney General, who has a finite amount of time to give it an official title and summary and return it to the proponents for signature-gathering.
Under SB654 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the Attorney General also would have to translate the title and summary into “each language in which the state or a county is required to provide voting materials pursuant to the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965,” and the Attorney General would have to instruct proponents that they must offer the petitions in the applicable languages when collecting signatures.
SB654 would have covered ballot initiatives and recall petitions for members of the Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization as well as appellate court justices.
“This bill would empower limited English proficient voters and increase language access and voter participation in the initiative process,” Leno said in a statement.
In his veto message, Brown said, “(I)mposing translation obligations at the circulating stage would add substantial burdens to the initiative process. I remain unconvinced that the benefits outweigh the costs.”
Nothing changes the fact that once an initiative or recall petition is certified as having sufficient signatures, it is translated for the ballot at election time.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Related
REAL NAMES ONLY: All posters must use their real individual or business name. This applies equally to Twitter account holders who use a nickname.
0 Comments
You can be the first one to leave a comment.