HB 1249 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
A bill to be entitled 1
An act relating to limited English -proficient voter 2
assistance; creating s. 97.027, F.S.; providing 3
definitions; requiring a supervisor of elections or a 4
political subdivision that administers an election to 5
provide certain language -related assistance to a 6
limited English-proficient voter under certain 7
circumstances; requiring such supervisor of elections 8
or political subdivision to provide election materia ls 9
of a certain quality in a covered language; requiring 10
the manual translation of English language text; 11
authorizing the use of automatic translation services 12
under certain circumstances; requiring that election 13
materials prepared in a covered language mu st be made 14
available at the same time as comparable English 15
language election materials; requiring a supervisor of 16
elections to operate and provide public notice of a 17
language assistance hotline; providing requirements 18
for the hotline; requiring a supervis or of elections 19
to provide certain notices in a covered language under 20
certain circumstances; requiring a supervisor of 21
elections or a political subdivision to replicate 22
certain signs and posters in certain covered languages 23
and display or distribute such signs and posters in 24
the same form and manner as English language signs; 25
HB 1249 2023
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
requiring a governmental entity responsible for 26
redistricting to provide certain translation services 27
and translations; providing requirements for such 28
translation services; authorizi ng a limited English -29
proficient voter to bring certain actions against a 30
supervisor of elections or a political subdivision; 31
requiring a court to grant certain relief upon making 32
a certain finding; requiring certain translation 33
services to be in compliance with certain federal 34
laws; providing an effective date. 35
36
Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 37
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Section 1. Section 97.027, Florida Statutes, is created to 39
read: 40
97.027 Limited English -proficient voter assistance. — 41
(1) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section, the term: 42
(a) "Covered language" means the language of a member of a 43
language minority group. 44
(b) "Election materials" means materials relating to 45
elections that are intended to be read by a voter and which are 46
provided by a supervisor of elections or political subdivision, 47
including, but not limited to, ballots, sample ballots, vote -by-48
mail ballots, vote-by-mail ballot requests, voting guides, 49
voting instructions, voter registration applications and 50
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materials, polling p lace signage, and notices, electronic 51
communications, and websites containing election -related 52
information. 53
(c) "Language minority group" has the same meaning as in 54
s. 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended, and 55
includes a group of persons whos e primary language is Haitian -56
Creole or Brazilian-Portuguese. 57
(d) "Limited English -proficient voter" means a member of a 58
language minority group who does not speak or understand English 59
adequately to participate in the electoral process. A person who 60
has not completed the fifth grade is presumed to not speak or 61
understand English adequately to participate in the electoral 62
process. 63
(e) "Political subdivision" means a county, municipality, 64
or special district. 65
(2) ASSISTANCE FOR LIMITED ENGLISH -PROFICIENT VOTERS.—A 66
supervisor of elections or political subdivision that 67
administers an election must provide language -related assistance 68
in a covered language to a limited English -proficient voter if, 69
based on data from the American Community Survey or data of 70
comparable quality collected by a governmental entity: 71
(a) More than 2 percent of the residents of voting age in 72
the political subdivision in which the election is held are 73
members of a single language minority group and limited English -74
proficient voters, if that percentage equals 300 or more 75
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F L O R I D A H O U S E O F R E P R E S E N T A T I V E S
persons; 76
(b) More than 4,000 of the residents of voting age in the 77
political subdivision in which the election is held are members 78
of a single language minority group and limited English -79
proficient voters; or 80
(c) For an election held in a political subdivision that 81
contains any part of a Native American reservation, more than 2 82
percent of the Native American residents of voting age in the 83
Native American reservation are members of a single language 84
minority group and limited English-proficient voters. For 85
purposes of this paragraph, the term "Native American" means a 86
person recognized by the United States Census Bureau or the 87
state as an American Indian. 88
(3) ELECTION MATERIALS. — 89
(a) A supervisor of elections or a political subdivision 90
shall provide to a limited English -proficient voter election 91
materials in his or her covered language that are the same 92
quality as comparable English language election materials. 93
(b) English language text shall be manually translated 94
whenever possible. Automatic translation services may only be 95
used when manual translation is not possible. 96
(c) Election materials prepared in a covered language must 97
be made available at the same time as comparable English 98
language election materials. 99
(4) LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE HOTLINE. —A supervisor of elections 100
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shall operate and provide public notice of a language assistance 101
hotline that provides language assistance to limited English -102
proficient voters which is staff ed during early voting hours, 103
all hours during which a polling place is open on election day, 104
and all hours of the period after election day during which a 105
voter may cure a vote -by-mail ballot or provisional ballot 106
deficiency. The hotline must, upon connec ting with a caller, 107
provide a prompt that allows the caller to meaningfully access 108
language assistance in the caller's covered language. 109
(5) NOTICES.— 110
(a) A supervisor of elections who is required to provide 111
language-related assistance in a covered lan guage under 112
subsection (2) must provide, in such covered language, notice 113
of: 114
1. Election materials in covered languages for limited 115
English-proficient voters by prominently displaying signage at 116
the main office and branch offices of the supervisor, maki ng 117
printed materials available to voters, and posting information 118
on the supervisor's public website. 119
2. The addresses and operating hours of early voting 120
sites, secure ballot intake station locations, and polling 121
places by prominently displaying signage at the main office and 122
branch offices of the supervisor, making printed materials 123
available to voters, and posting information on the supervisor's 124
public website. 125
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3. Any change in the address or operating hours of an 126
early voting site, a secure ballot i ntake station location, or a 127
polling place by the same means as such notice is provided to 128
voters in English. 129
(b) An English language sign or poster containing 130
election-related information which is displayed or distributed 131
by a supervisor of elections or a political subdivision must be 132
replicated in each covered language for which the supervisor or 133
political subdivision is required to provide language -related 134
assistance under subsection (2). A replicated sign or poster 135
must be displayed or distributed in the same form and manner as 136
the English language sign or poster. 137
(6) TRANSLATIONS RELATING TO REDISTRICTING. —A governmental 138
entity responsible for a redistricting process must provide 139
translation services at meetings and hearings related to 140
redistricting and translations of redistricting materials in 141
each covered language in which a supervisor of elections or 142
political subdivision within an affected geographical area is 143
required to provide election materials. The translation services 144
provided by the gover nmental entity must be sufficient to allow 145
a member of a language minority group who speaks such a covered 146
language to testify at such meeting or hearing. 147
(7) ACTION FOR DECLARATORY JUDGMENT AND INJUNCTIVE 148
RELIEF.—A limited English-proficient voter may b ring an action 149
against a supervisor of elections or a political subdivision in 150
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a court of competent jurisdiction for declaratory judgment and 151
injunctive relief to enforce the requirements of this section. 152
The court shall grant the requested relief upon fin ding that the 153
violation of this section was unreasonable or an abuse of 154
discretion. 155
(8) COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL LAW. —Translation services 156
provided under this section must be uniform, nondiscriminatory, 157
and in compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 , the 158
National Voter Registration Act of 1993, the Help America Vote 159
Act of 2002, and the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and 160
Handicapped Act of 1984, as amended. 161
Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023. 162