republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-1443.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Voters: language accessibility."
description: "Existing law establishes the Secretary of State as the chief elections officer of the state and requires that he or she ensure that elections are efficiently conducted and that state election laws are enforced. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that non-English-speaking citizens, like all other citizens, should be encouraged to vote and that appropriate efforts should be made to minimize obstacles to voting by citizens who lack sufficient skill in English to vote without assistance."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1443"
citation: "California AB 1443 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Voters: language accessibility."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Chau"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2015-02-27"
last_action: "2015-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/66df287f-6ae6-4d39-aedd-0abe8ab46acb"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443"
source_hash: "f606ec1edbb23a05c8ccfd733eb98c5b50bd51d80e3de6f9bce83530c3f55686"
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 AB 1443 (20152016) — Voters: language accessibility.

Existing law establishes the Secretary of State as the chief elections officer of the state and requires that he or she ensure that elections are efficiently conducted and that state election laws are enforced. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that non-English-speaking citizens, like all other citizens, should be encouraged to vote and that appropriate efforts should be made to minimize obstacles to voting by citizens who lack sufficient skill in English to vote without assistance.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/27/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443&version=20150AB144399INT)
2. **03/26/15 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443&version=20150AB144398AMD)
3. **06/23/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443&version=20150AB144397AMD)
4. **08/17/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443&version=20150AB144396AMD)
5. **09/28/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443&version=20150AB144394CHP)
6. **AB1443** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443)
7. **09/02/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1443&version=20150AB144395ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading AB1443 Chau By Mendoza — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 1443 CHAU Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1443 CHAU Consent Calendar Second Day — **74–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · lower
- Be re-referred to the Committee on [Elections and Redistricting] — **11–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Chau — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-27** Introduced. To print. `introduction`
- **2015-03-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 31.
- **2015-03-02** Read first time. `reading-1`
- **2015-03-26** Referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-26** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on E. & R. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-06** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2015-04-13** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on E. & R. Re-referred. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 9). Re-referred to Com. on E. & R. `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-13** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (May 13). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-05-14** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-22** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 74. Noes 0. Page 1560.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-22** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2015-06-04** Referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-09** In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.
- **2015-06-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E. & C.A. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-01** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0.) (June 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-08-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-17** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2015-08-18** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-08-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2200.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-08-27** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 30 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2015-08-31** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 2679.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2015-09-09** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2015-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 347, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/66df287f-6ae6-4d39-aedd-0abe8ab46acb`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).