Ballot measure petitions: translations.

Existing law requires the Attorney General, upon receipt of the text of a proposed initiative or referendum measure, to prepare a circulating title and summary of the chief purpose and points of the proposed measure. Existing law requires the Attorney General to provide a copy of the circulating title and summary of a proposed initiative measure to the proponents of the measure and the Secretary of State within 15 days, as specified. Existing law requires the Attorney General to provide a copy of the circulating title and summary of a proposed referendum measure to the proponents of the measure and the Secretary of State within 10 days after receipt of the proposed referendum. This bill would require the proponents of an initiative or referendum measure, at the time of submitting the text of the proposed measure to the Attorney General, to submit a list of specified counties in which the initiative or referendum petition will be circulated. Upon submission of the list, this bill would require the Attorney General to prepare a translation of the circulating title and summary of the proposed initiative or referendum measure in a language other than English under certain circumstances. If the Attorney General is required to prepare a translation, this bill would require the Attorney General to provide a copy of the circulating title and summary and its translation to the proponents and the Secretary of State within 25 days, as specified, for a proposed initiative measure and within 20 days after receipt of a proposed referendum measure. Existing law permits any person who is a voter or who is qualified to register to vote in the state to circulate an initiative or referendum petition for signature and imposes certain requirements on these circulators. If an initiative or referendum petition is circulated in a specified county, this bill would require a copy of the applicable translated circulating title and summary prepared by the Attorney General to be attached to the petition and available to each person whom the circulator solicits in that language to sign the petition. This bill would also require a circulator to provide a copy of the applicable translated circulating title and summary to any person upon request. Existing provisions of the California Constitution and statute authorize the recall of state officers. Existing law requires the proponents of the recall to file 2 blank copies of the petition to recall the officer with the Secretary of State, who is required to ascertain if the proposed form and wording of the petition meet specified requirements. This bill would require the proponents of a recall of a state officer, at the time of filing the 2 blank copies of the petition with the Secretary of State, to submit a list of specified counties in which the recall petition will be circulated. If the proponents submit this list of counties, this bill would require the Secretary of State, within 10 days after ascertaining that the proposed form and wording of the recall petition meet specified requirements, to prepare a translation of the petition in each applicable minority language of the counties identified by the proponents, and provide a copy of each translation to the proponents. Existing law requires a recall petition to use a specified format and contain certain information. Under existing law, any person who is a registered voter of the electoral jurisdiction of the officer sought to be recalled may circulate the recall petition for signatures. If a recall petition is circulated in a specified county, this bill would require a copy of the applicable translation of the petition prepared by the Secretary of State to be attached to the petition and available to each person whom the circulator solicits in that language to sign the petition. This bill would also require the circulator to provide a copy of the translation of the petition to any person upon request.