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The California State Senate approved legislation that allows immigrants without full legal status to serve in appointed civil offices.

On Friday, the state Senate sent SB 174, the California Inclusion Act, to Gov. Jerry Brown. If the governor signs it into law, California will be the first state in the nation to allow all qualified residents on state and local boards and commissions regardless of their immigration status.

California has thousands of state and local boards and commissions in different areas, including farm labor, Asian and Pacific Islander American affairs, and others. Many appointments to these boards and commissions are unpaid. With regard to paid appointments, SB 174 defers to federal law. In other words, it does not allow residents who do not have work authorization to serve in paid appointments.

Additionally, SB 174 amends an 1872 law that prohibits the children of Chinese immigrants from participating in civil life. Under Section 241 of the Government Code, a citizen of California is defined as anyone born in the state, except the children of “transient aliens and of alien public ministers and consuls.” SB 174 eliminates the language regarding “transient aliens.”

California Inclusion Act is about "Good Governance"

In a previous statement, State Sen. Ricardo Lara, the author of the legislation, explained that SB 174 is “fundamentally about good governance. It rejects the state’s history of exclusion.”

He added, “We make the best policies when we hear the voices of all Californians, regardless of where they are born or what they look like.”

In March, the California Senate Rules Committee appointed an immigrant lawyer without full legal status to a statewide position. Attorney Lizbeth Mateo will serve as student aid advisor under the California Student Opportunity and Access Program Advisory Committee.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program provides work permits to immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally as children. However, the program does not give them full legal status.

Data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that California has the most DACA recipients (197,900) as of September 4, 2017. Some of them are professionals and qualified to serve in appointed civil offices, just like Mateo.