BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1116
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1116 (Fong) - As Amended: February 18, 2011
Policy Committee: Governmental
Organization Vote: 16 - 1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the California Emergency Management Agency
(Cal EMA) to take measures to help people with limited English
proficiency (LEP) prepare for emergencies and understand
information conveyed during emergencies, such as utilizing
bilingual persons in public contact positions, and coordinating
with organizations that represent the needs of LEP persons in
order to disseminate guidance to local and regional governmental
entities. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Secretary of Cal EMA to take into consideration
the multiple languages and needs of populations with limited
English proficiency during emergency preparedness planning,
response, and recovery, including when developing committee
recommendations within the Standardized Emergency Management
System (SEMS).
2)Requires the secretary to work in collaboration with ethnic
media and ethnic community-based organizations in developing
communication strategies so that alert and warning information
sent to these entities can be more broadly disseminated to LEP
populations.
3)Requires the secretary to use a registry of qualified
bilingual persons to provide interpretation services in the
case of an emergency.
4)Requires the secretary to incorporate the needs of populations
with limited English proficiency in the curricula and training
materials for all critical emergency training exercises.
AB 1116
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FISCAL EFFECT
Costs associated with this legislation would be minor and
absorbable within existing resources.
COMMENTS
1)There are over six million limited English proficient
residents in California. Their limited English ability can
pose a threat to their safety in the event of a disaster.
This bill requires that emergency preparedness efforts and
disaster response plans take into account the needs of this
population.
2)Related Legislation . In 2010, AB 611 (Fong) a substantially
similar bill was vetoed. In his veto message, Governor
Schwarzenegger stated, "CalEMA already considers the needs of
all California's citizens, including limited English
populations, during emergency preparedness planning, response,
and recovery."
In 2008, AB 1930 (Torrico) would have required the Office of
Emergency Services (OES) to consider the needs of people with
limited English proficiency in creating emergency and disaster
response plans. That bill was held on the Senate
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
In 2007, AB 615 (Torrico), a substantially similar bill to AB
1930 (Torrico), was held on this committee's suspense file.
Similar to this bill, SB 1451 (Kehoe; Chapter 600, Statutes of
2006) required OES to ensure representation of the disabled
community on all pertinent Standardized Emergency Management
System Specialist Committees.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081