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A01722 Summary:

BILL NOA01722B
 
SAME ASSAME AS S01381-A
 
SPONSORZinerman
 
COSPNSRDinowitz, Walker, Sillitti, Taylor, Burgos, Fall, Levenberg, Simon, Aubry, Jean-Pierre, De Los Santos, Tapia, Novakhov, Solages, Jackson, Gonzalez-Rojas, Forrest, Shrestha, Zaccaro, Epstein, Rosenthal L
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Amd 4-108 & 4-116, El L
 
Requires a proposed amendment to the constitution or other question provided by law to be submitted to a statewide vote be submitted to the people for their approval in plain language which is deemed to be no higher than an eighth grade reading level.
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A01722 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A1722B
 
SPONSOR: Zinerman
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to the form in which a proposed amendment to the constitution or other question provided by law to be submitted to a statewide vote shall be submitted to the people for their approval   PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:: To require that proposed amendments and other questions submitted to a statewide vote will be set forth on the ballot in plain, easily under- stood language that identifies the practical impact of adopting or rejecting the amendment or other measure and requires no more than an eighth grade reading comprehension level.   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:: Section one adds four new subdivisions to section 4-108 of the election law, which defines of the term "plain language" when applied to consti- tutional amendments or other questions submitted to the voters. It also specifies that the ballot language cannot have more than 1 sentence that is a succinct summary of the change in policy, which describes the topic, goal or outcome of the change.. It further requires the state board of elections to publicly release proposed ballot language at least four months before the general election at which the proposal will be submitted to the voters and to give the public at least 15 days to submit comments. The board is required to review and consider the comments received from the public before finalizing the certified ballot language to be distributed to the county boards of elections for inclusion on the ballot. The bill requires the Attorney General of the State of New York must identify recommendations in such plain language prior to being incorpo- rated on the ballot. And the bill further amends election law to provide detailed specifications for the form of the'ballot language by which constitutional amendments or other questions are be submitted to the voters. The ballot statement would be limited a total of 75 words: a descriptive title of no more than 15 words, a statement of the question presented in 30 words or less written to be understood by someone with no more than an eighth grade reading comprehension as determined by the ARI, and a plain language statement of no more than 30 words explaining the practical impact of a yes or no vote, rather than a statement of the legal mechanism implementing the provision if passed. If required, a fiscal statement no longer than 25 words would be included. The attorney general would continue to advise in the preparation of the statement by which the amendment or question is presented to the voters, but cannot specify changes which would result in a form that does not satisfy the plain language requirements or the specific requirements set forth in amended § 4-108. In addition, the bill requires in addition to publishing the specified information regarding the question(s) to be submitted to the voters, the state board of elections and any county board of elections which main- tains a public website should prominently display the same information on their websites for no less than two months before the general election in which the question is to be submitted to the voters.   JUSTIFICATION:: Voters frequently complain that the legal language by which proposed constitutional amendments and other questions are submitted on the ballot for voter approval are difficult to read and understand, even though that language is supposed to be "clear and coherent." As a conse- quence, many voters choose not to vote on the proposals because they do not understand them. An assessment of the readability of two ballot proposals submitted to the voters on the November 2021 ballot determined that voters needed a college reading comprehension level to understand the proposals. If voters cannot understand the text-or the implications of the question-they cannot participate effectively. The solution is writing ballot questions in plain language. According to the federal resource, plainlanguage.gov, language is plain when people can find what they need, understand what they find, and use it to meet their goals For a ballot question, this means that voters can understand the practical outcomes of voting yes or no on a ballot ques- tion and confidently vote their intent. Plain language is feasible and tested in government materials, notably for consumer contracts, mortgage disclosures, securities and exchange filings, and medical information. It facilitates translation, making it easier to create readable ballots in other languages or for voters with lower English literacy to understand the text. It can increase trust by helping voters feel confident that they can vote their intent and that the question is not trying to trick them. And it can reduce litigation(and associated costs) by making meaning clear. Academic research shows that plain language helps voters. Research establishes that voters recognize the difference between plain language and traditional language ballots and prefer those written in plain language. Voters vote more accurately and quickly on plain language ballots and are more likely to, complete the entire ballot. Plain language can be measured and compliance can be enforced. There are existing ways to measure how easy text is to read. These readability scores measure the length and complexity of the text. The Automated Readability Index (ARI) was chosen as a reliable and validated measure- ment tool developed by federal agencies to assess technical text. It is easier and more reliable to calculate than other readability measures. It tests word complexity as letters per word, and sentence complexity as the number of words in a sentence. This is more reliable than relying on the number of syllables in the text. Commonly understood legal terms(like "Constitution") can be allowed and exempted from readability testing through regulation that establishes an acceptable word list. Specifying a required structure for the statement that will be included on the ballot will provide consistency in what a vote means. To make every amendment or question proposed readily understandable, the state- ment that appears on the ballot will describe the change, not the mech- anism for change and will provide a clear statement of what voting Yes or No means. While lawyers consistently refer to, and emphasize, the legal mechanism for'the change, such descriptions have little meaning for the typical voter. Similarly, avoiding double negatives and passive sentences will help to make the proposed action and actors clear to the voters, assisting voters in ascertaining and voter their intent.   PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:: This is a new bill.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:: Undetermined.   EFFECTIVE DATE:: This act shall take effect immediately.
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A01722 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                         1722--B
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 20, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. ZINERMAN, DINOWITZ, WALKER, SILLITTI, TAYLOR,
          BURGOS, FALL, LEVENBERG,  SIMON,  AUBRY,  JEAN-PIERRE,  DE LOS SANTOS,
          TAPIA,  NOVAKHOV,  SOLAGES, JACKSON, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, FORREST, SHRESTHA
          -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law --  commit-
          tee  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recom-
          mitted to said committee -- again reported from  said  committee  with
          amendments,  ordered  reprinted  as  amended  and  recommitted to said
          committee
 
        AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the  form  in  which  a
          proposed  amendment  to the constitution or other question provided by
          law to be submitted to a statewide vote  shall  be  submitted  to  the
          people for their approval
 
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
 
     1    Section 1.  Paragraph d of subdivision 1 and subdivisions 2 and  3  of
     2  section  4-108  of  the  election  law, paragraph d of subdivision 1 and
     3  subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 136 of the laws of 1978 and subdivi-
     4  sion 3 as added by chapter 234 of the laws of 1976, are amended and four
     5  new subdivisions 4, 5, 6 and 7 are added to read as follows:
     6    d. In addition to the text, such transmittal shall contain an abstract
     7  of such proposed amendment, proposition or  question,  prepared  by  the
     8  state board of elections [concisely stating the purpose and effect ther-
     9  eof  in a clear and coherent manner using words with common and everyday
    10  meanings] in plain language.
    11    2. The form in which the proposed amendment, proposition  or  question
    12  is  to  be submitted shall consist [of] only [an abbreviated title indi-
    13  cating generally and briefly, and in a clear and coherent  manner  using
    14  words  with  common  and  every-day  meanings, the subject matter of the
    15  amendment, proposition or question] of the following: a.  a  descriptive
    16  title  of  up  to  fifteen  words,  which  describes the topic, goal, or
    17  outcome of the ballot question in plain language; b. a  summary  of  the
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01430-03-3

        A. 1722--B                          2
 
     1  text  ballot  proposal of up to thirty words, written in plain language,
     2  that describes the change in policy to be  adopted  and  not  the  legal
     3  mechanism;  and  c.  a statement of what a YES or NO vote means in up to
     4  thirty  words  written  in  plain language that identifies the practical
     5  outcome of each election result and not the  legal  mechanism.  If  more
     6  than  one such amendment, proposition or question is to be voted upon at
     7  such election, each such amendment, proposition or question respectively
     8  shall be separately and consecutively numbered.
     9    3. The attorney general shall  advise  in  the  preparation  of  [such
    10  abstract and] such form of submission, and such recommendations shall be
    11  in plain language.
    12    4.  a.  The  state board of elections shall prominently publish on its
    13  website at least four months prior to the general election  at  which  a
    14  ballot  proposal  shall appear, the proposed form of the ballot proposal
    15  and abstract. There shall be a public comment period of at least fifteen
    16  days subsequent to such publication. The state board  shall  review  and
    17  consider  public  comments  before adopting the final form of the ballot
    18  proposal and abstract.
    19    b. The state board of elections shall also publish on its website  the
    20  Automated Readability Index score calculated pursuant to subdivision six
    21  of this section for each form of question  and abstract.
    22    The  score  shall require no higher than an eighth grade reading level
    23  (a score of 8 on the Automated  Readability  Index),  unless  the  state
    24  board  of elections shall state the basis for its determination that the
    25  plain language requirements of this section are met.
    26    5. For the purposes of this section, plain  language  shall  mean  the
    27  form of the ballot proposal and abstract:
    28    a. shall be written in easily comprehended, concise language;
    29    b. shall not contain more the one passive sentence;
    30    c.  shall  not  use semicolons, using multiple sentences as necessary;
    31  and
    32    d. shall not contain double negatives.
    33    6. To evaluate compliance with the plain language requirements of this
    34  section, the state board of elections shall calculate an Automated Read-
    35  ability Index score, separately,  for  each  statewide  form  of  ballot
    36  proposal and abstract.
    37    The  Automated   Readability Index score shall be calculated according
    38  to the following formula:
    39    a. Divide the number of characters (excluding spaces) by the number of
    40  words and multiply that number by 4.71;
    41    b. Divide the number of words by the number of sentences and  multiply
    42  that number by 0.5;
    43    c. Add the results of paragraphs a and b of this subdivision.
    44    d. Subtract 21.43 from the result of paragraph c of this paragraph and
    45  round to the nearest whole number.
    46    7.  No  specific  Automated Readability Index score shall be required;
    47  provided, however, the board shall use  best  efforts  to  score  at  an
    48  eighth  grade  reading  level  or below and meet the definition of plain
    49  language in subdivision five of this section.  In  addition,  the  board
    50  shall  expend their best efforts not to exceed the word limits in subdi-
    51  vision two of this section but may do so when plain language clarity  is
    52  improved thereby.
    53    §  2.  Section  4-116  of the election law, is amended by adding a new
    54  subdivision 4 to read as follows:
    55    4. No later than two months prior to the general election at which any
    56  statewide ballot proposal is to be submitted to the  people,  the  state

        A. 1722--B                          3
 
     1  board  of  elections  and all local boards of elections shall publish on
     2  their websites the information required  to  be  published  pursuant  to
     3  subdivision two of this section.
     4    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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