---
type: "Bill"
title: "Ballot materials: translations."
description: "Existing law requires each county elections official to prepare separate sample ballots for each political party and a separate sample nonpartisan ballot, as specified. Existing law requires the elections official to send to each voter, together with the sample ballot, a voter's pamphlet that contains the written statements of each candidate. Existing law requires the elections officials to provide a Spanish translation to those candidates who wish to have one and requires that the person selected to provide that translation be from a list of approved Spanish-language translators and interpreters of the superior court of the county or from an institution accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 366"
citation: "California SB 366 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Ballot materials: translations."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Nguyen"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 16
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2015-02-24"
last_action: "2015-08-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/5fa33b4c-a074-4278-88cc-4f7ab6d8483e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB366"
source_hash: "d61d675a41bfb93e329c05d17656ff799dc99cb202f80efe1e8da666455fce97"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 366 (20152016) — Ballot materials: translations.

Existing law requires each county elections official to prepare separate sample ballots for each political party and a separate sample nonpartisan ballot, as specified. Existing law requires the elections official to send to each voter, together with the sample ballot, a voter's pamphlet that contains the written statements of each candidate. Existing law requires the elections officials to provide a Spanish translation to those candidates who wish to have one and requires that the person selected to provide that translation be from a list of approved Spanish-language translators and interpreters of the superior court of the county or from an institution accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/24/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB366&version=20150SB36699INT)
2. **08/07/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB366&version=20150SB36697CHP)
3. **SB366** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB366)
4. **07/10/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB366&version=20150SB36698ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be ordered to the Consent Calendar — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- Consent Calendar 2nd — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 366 Nguyen Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Nguyen — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2015-02-24** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
- **2015-03-05** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-24** Set for hearing April 7.
- **2015-04-08** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 523.) (April 7). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-09** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-04-16** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 632.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-16** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-14** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-07-01** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 1). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-02** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-07-09** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2328.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-09** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2015-07-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10 a.m.
- **2015-08-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 144, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/5fa33b4c-a074-4278-88cc-4f7ab6d8483e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).