BILL NUMBER:  S6772

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the election law, in relation to
directing the Queens county board of elections to provide language
assistance in Bengali, Punjabi and Hindi

 PURPOSE :

This bill directs the Queens county board of elections to provide
written language assistance in Bengali, Punjabi, and Hindi in order to
comply with the Language Assistance Provisions of Section 203 of the
federal voting rights act of 1965 (42(U.S.0 1973aa-la).

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

This bill directs the Queens county board of elections to provide
written language assistance in Bengali, Punjabi, and Hindi in order to
comply with the Language Assistance Provisions of Section 203 of the
federal voting rights act of 1965 (42(U.S.0 1973aa-la).

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

The election law is amended by adding a new section 3-508 which
directs the Queens county board of elections to provide written
language assistance in Bengali, Punjabi, and Hindi. Since
Asian-Indians in Queens County are newly covered under the Language
              

Assistance Provisions of See. 203 of the Federal Voting Rights Act and
the three most spoken languages among individuals of Asian-Indian
origin are Begali, Hindi and Punjabi, the Board of Elections should
provide written material in those languages. This shall include but
not be limited to ballots, signs, voter mailings, employee and
volunteer training materiel and information on such board's website.

The board is also require to produce and distribute throughout the
district a booklet which includes a voter registration form in English
along with, in Bengali, Punjabi, and Hindi, instructions for
registering to vote, instructions for obtaining an absentee ballot,
and a section with general voter information including frequently
asked questions. The board may include other languages in the booklet
and website as well.

This act shall take effect on the 120th day after it shall have become
law.

Effective immediately, the addition amendment or repeal of any rules
or regulations for the implementation of this act on its effective
date are authorized to be made on or before such date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Since Asian-Indians in Queens County are newly covered under the
Language Assistance Provisions of Sec. 203 of the federal Voting
Rights Act, this act will add the three most spoken Asian- Indian
languages to the Queens County ballot.

The data for Queens County indicates Bengali (also known as Bangla),
Punjabi and Hindi speakers, in that order, as the prevalence of those
with limited English proficiency (LEP) in Queens County {1} .

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

Old bill S.625 of 2014, referred to Election Law 1-8-14

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

minimal to state
 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the 120th day after it shall have become
law. Effective immediately, the addition amendment or repeal of any
rules or regulations for the implementation of this act on its
effective date are authorized to be made on or before such date.  {1}
American Community Survey, Public Use Microdate Sample 2005-2009