Bill Text: NY A01722 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 21-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-06-08 - substituted by s1381a [A01722 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A01722-Introduced.html
Bill Title: 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.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 21-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-06-08 - substituted by s1381a [A01722 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A01722-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 1722 2023-2024 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 20, 2023 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ZINERMAN -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Election Law 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. Section 1-104 of the election law is amended by adding a 2 new subdivision 40 to read as follows: 3 40. (a) The term "plain language" when applied to any statement of the 4 form in which a proposed amendment to the constitution or other question 5 provided by law to be submitted to a statewide vote appears on the 6 ballot shall mean a statement which, in addition to satisfying the 7 requirements set forth in paragraph d of subdivision one of section 8 4-108 of this chapter: (i) scores no higher than eighth grade or "good", 9 as indicated by a score of a nine on the automated reading index as 10 calculated pursuant to the formula set forth in paragraph (b) of this 11 subdivision, (ii) contains no more than one passive sentence, (iii) 12 avoids the use of semicolons, using multiple sentences as necessary, and 13 (iv) does not contain any double negatives. 14 (b) The automated reading index shall be calculated according to the 15 following formula: 16 (i) Divide the number of characters by the number of words and multi- 17 ply that number by 4.71. 18 (ii) Divide the number of words by the number of sentences and multi- 19 ply that number by 0.5. 20 (iii) Add the results from subparagraphs (i) and (ii) of this para- 21 graph. 22 (iv) Subtract 21.43 from the result of subparagraph (iii) of this 23 paragraph and round to the nearest whole number. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD01430-01-3A. 1722 2 1 § 2. Paragraphs a and 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 to read 5 as follows: 6 a. Whenever any proposed amendment to the constitution or other ques- 7 tion provided by law to be submitted to a statewide vote shall be 8 submitted to the people for their approval, the state board of elections 9 at least three months prior to the general election at which such amend- 10 ment, proposition or question is to be submitted, shall transmit to each 11 county board of elections a certified copy of the text of each amend- 12 ment, proposition or question and a statement of the form in which it is 13 to be submitted as approved after public comment has been received and 14 reviewed pursuant to paragraph d of this subdivision. 15 d. In addition to the text, such transmittal shall contain an abstract 16 of such proposed amendment, proposition or question, prepared by the 17 state board of elections [concisely stating the purpose and effect ther-18eof in a clear and coherent manner using words with common and everyday19meanings] in plain language as defined in subdivision forty of section 20 1-104 of this chapter and satisfying the requirements set forth in 21 subdivision two of this section. At least four months prior to the 22 general election at which such amendment, proposition or question is to 23 be submitted, the state board of elections shall publicly release and 24 submit for public comment the proposed form in which the amendment, 25 proposition or question is to be submitted to the people. The public 26 shall have no less than fifteen days to submit comments on the proposed 27 form in which the amendment, proposition or question is to be submitted 28 to the voters. The state board of elections shall review and consider 29 all comments before finalizing the statement of the form in which the 30 proposed amendment, proposition or question is to be submitted for 31 approval by the people. 32 2. The form in which the proposed amendment, proposition or question 33 is to be submitted shall consist [of] only [an abbreviated title indi-34cating generally and briefly, and in a clear and coherent manner using35words with common and every-day meanings, the subject matter of the36amendment, proposition or question] of the following: (a) a descriptive 37 title of up to fifteen words in bold type, which describes the topic, 38 goal, or outcome of the ballot question in plain language; (b) the text 39 of the question of up to thirty words, written in clear, concise, plain 40 language reasonably calculated to be understood by someone with no more 41 than an eighth grade level of reading comprehension as determined by the 42 automatic readability index as defined in subdivision forty of section 43 1-104 of this chapter; (c) a plain language statement of what a YES or 44 NO vote means in up to thirty words in total, that identifies the prac- 45 tical results of each election result and not the legal mechanism for 46 implementation; and (d) a fiscal statement of no more than twenty-five 47 words, when required. The proposed amendment, proposition or question 48 may consist of multiple sentences. If more than one such amendment, 49 proposition or question is to be voted upon at such election, each such 50 amendment, proposition or question respectively shall be separately and 51 consecutively numbered. 52 3. The attorney general shall advise in the preparation of [such53abstract and] such form of submission, to the extent that such advice 54 does not result in a form that fails to satisfy the requirements of 55 subdivision two of this section.A. 1722 3 1 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 4-116 of the election law, as amended by 2 chapter 60 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows: 3 2. The state board of elections shall publish once in the week preced- 4 ing any election at which proposed constitutional amendments or other 5 propositions or questions are to be submitted to the voters of the state 6 an abstract of such amendment or question, a brief statement of the law 7 or proceedings authorizing such submission, a statement that such 8 submission will be made and the form satisfying the requirements of 9 paragraph d of subdivision one of section 4-108 of this article in which 10 it is to be submitted. No later than two months prior to the general 11 election at which such amendment, proposition or question is to be 12 submitted, such information shall be prominently displayed on the state 13 board of elections' website and on the website of every county board of 14 elections which maintains a website. 15 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.