Elections/language assist.

AN ACT Relating to improving meaningful access to elections by 1
increasing language assistance; adding new sections to chapter 29A.04 2
RCW; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 29A.04 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) The county auditor of a covered county described under 7
subsection (2) of this section shall provide registration or voting 8
notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or 9
information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, in 10
the language of covered language minority groups in that county as 11
designated by the secretary of state under subsection (3) of this 12
section, as well as in English. 13
(2) A county is a covered county for purposes of this section if 14
the secretary of state determines, based on census data as described 15
under subsection (3) of this section that: 16
(a) At least two and one-half percent of citizens residing in a 17
county who are of voting age or qualified to register to vote are 18
members of a single language minority group and have limited English 19
proficiency, and the illiteracy rate of the limited English 20
H-0567.1
HOUSE BILL 1381
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Shavers, Santos, Pollet, Springer, Wylie, and
Ramel
Read first time 01/17/25. Referred to Committee on State Government
& Tribal Relations.
p. 1 HB 1381
proficient citizens who speak the same language exceed the national 1
illiteracy rate; or 2
(b) The county contains all or any part of an Indian reservation 3
and at least two and one-half percent of the American Indian or 4
Alaska Native citizens residing within the Indian reservation who are 5
of voting age or qualified to register to vote are members of a 6
single language minority group and have limited English proficiency, 7
and the illiteracy rate of the limited English proficient citizens 8
who speak the same language exceed the national illiteracy rate.9
(3)(a) The secretary of state shall designate the covered 10
language minority groups under subsection (2) of this section for 11
each covered county no later than August 1, 2025, and every five 12
years thereafter, based on the most current population estimates 13
derived from the American community survey along with relevant 14
decennial census data. 15
(b) The secretary of state shall directly notify each covered 16
county of the language designations and publish such designations in 17
the Washington State Register within 30 days following the release of 18
census data from the American community survey or decennial census.19
(c) The secretary's designations are effective upon publication 20
in the Washington State Register, but counties have 365 days, 21
including weekends and holidays, from the publication date to reach 22
full compliance. 23
(4) The requirements under this section are in addition to, and 24
do not supersede or otherwise impact, the requirements under RCW 25
29A.92.050. 26
(5) Once a county is designated as a covered county, the language 27
designations for that county remain in effect unless terminated by 28
the secretary of state. A county auditor may, no earlier than five 29
years after a language minority group designation is made for that 30
county by the secretary of state, petition the secretary to terminate 31
the designation, and the secretary may grant the petition, if the 32
county auditor proves using census data that the membership of the 33
applicable language minority group falls below the thresholds 34
described in subsection (2)(a) and (b) of this section and the 35
illiteracy rate of that group is equal to or less than the national 36
illiteracy rate. 37
(6) The secretary of state shall establish a grant program to 38
provide funding to counties to implement this section and section 2 39
of this act. 40
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(7) For purposes of this section: 1
(a) "Illiteracy" means the failure to complete the fifth primary 2
grade. 3
(b) "Indian reservation" means all lands, notwithstanding the 4
issuance of any patent, within the boundaries of areas set aside by 5
the United States for the use and occupancy of Indian tribes by 6
treaty, law, or executive order, or otherwise designated or described 7
"reservation" by any federal act, and that are currently recognized 8
as "Indian reservations" by the United States department of the 9
interior. The term applies to all land within the boundaries of the 10
Indian reservation, regardless of whether the land is owned by 11
nonmembers, tribal members, or an Indian tribe. 12
(c) "Limited English proficiency" means that the person is unable 13
to speak or understand English adequately enough to participate in 14
the electoral process. 15
(d) "Single language minority group" means persons who are 16
American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Native, or of Spanish 17
heritage. 18
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 29A.04 19
RCW to read as follows: 20
(1) The county auditor of a covered county described under 21
subsection (2) of this section shall provide registration or voting 22
notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or other materials or 23
information relating to the electoral process, including ballots, in 24
the language of covered language minority groups in that county as 25
designated by the secretary of state under subsection (3) of this 26
section, as well as in English. 27
(2) A county is a covered county for purposes of this section if 28
the secretary of state determines: 29
(a) Based on census data as described under subsection (3) of 30
this section that: 31
(i) At least one and one-half percent of citizens residing in a 32
county who are of voting age or qualified to register to vote are 33
members of a single language minority group and have limited English 34
proficiency, and the illiteracy rate of the limited English 35
proficient citizens who speak the same language exceed the national 36
illiteracy rate; or 37
(ii) The county contains all or any part of an Indian reservation 38
and at least one and one-half percent of the American Indian or 39
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Alaska Native citizens residing within the Indian reservation who are 1
of voting age or qualified to register to vote are members of a 2
single language minority group and have limited English proficiency, 3
and the illiteracy rate of the limited English proficient citizens 4
who speak the same language exceed the national illiteracy rate; and5
(b) Based on population estimates published by the office of 6
financial management, the county has a population between 125,000 and 7
225,000 people. 8
(3)(a) The secretary of state shall designate the covered 9
language minority groups under subsection (2) of this section for 10
each covered county no later than August 1, 2025, based on the most 11
current population estimates derived from the American community 12
survey along with relevant decennial census data. 13
(b) The secretary of state shall directly notify each covered 14
county of the language designations and publish such designations in 15
the Washington State Register within 30 days following the release of 16
census data from the American community survey or decennial census.17
(c) The secretary's designations are effective upon publication 18
in the Washington State Register, but counties have 365 days, 19
including weekends and holidays, from the publication date to reach 20
full compliance. 21
(4) The requirements under this section are in addition to, and 22
do not supersede or otherwise impact, the requirements under RCW 23
29A.92.050. 24
(5) The grant program created under section 1 of this act is 25
established to provide funding to counties to implement this section.26
(6) By December 1, 2031, and in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, 27
the office of the secretary of state shall submit a report to the 28
appropriate committees of the legislature and the governor that 29
details the impact to counties and voters from the implementation of 30
this section. 31
(7) The definitions in section 1 (7) of this act apply to this 32
section. 33
(8) This section expires December 31, 2031. 34
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. If specific funding for the purposes of 35
this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not 36
p. 4 HB 1381
provided by June 30, 2025, in the omnibus appropriations act, this 1
act is null and void. 2
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