BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1116
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 1116 (Fong)
As Introduced February 18, 2011
2/3 vote
GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION 16-1 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Hall, Nestande, Atkins, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Block, Blumenfield, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Chesbro, Cook, Galgiani, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Gatto, Hill, Jeffries, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Ma, Perea, V. Manuel | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| |Pérez, Silva, Torres | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Smyth, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Garrick | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |69-0 |(May 26, 2011) |SENATE: |29-7 |(September 1, |
| | | | | |2011) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : 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)Provides that the Secretary of Cal EMA (Secretary) shall take
into consideration the multiple languages and the needs of
populations with LEP during emergency preparedness planning,
response, and recovery, including when developing committee
recommendations within the Standardized Emergency Management
System (SEMS) structure, drafting guidance for local and
regional governmental entities, and reviewing emergency plans
of state, regional, and local governmental entities.
AB 1116
Page 2
2)Provides that the Secretary shall work in collaboration with
local ethnic community-based organizations and ethnic media
outlets in developing communication strategies so that alert
and warning information can be more broadly sent out to LEP
communities.
3)Specifies that the Secretary shall utilize a registry of
qualified bilingual persons in public contract positions, as
defined, to assist with emergency preparedness, response, and
recovery, as deemed necessary.
4)Provides that the Secretary shall incorporate the needs of
populations with LEP in all emergency preparedness, response,
and recovery training and exercises, including the exercises
identified in the statewide exercise strategy and other
exercises related to crisis communications.
5)Makes legislative findings and declarations.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, costs associated with this legislation would be minor
and absorbable within existing resources.
COMMENTS : According to the author, California has long been
prone to disasters, and emergency preparedness planning at the
state and local levels is crucial for ensuring our state is
equipped to recover from any disaster situation. California has
approximately 36 million inhabitants, and over 40% speak a
language other than English. Emergency Responders are faced
with extraordinary language diversities. To ensure emergency
preparedness in any disaster, communication with the public is
essential for conveying important safety instructions and
procedures. But this is a challenging task to perform in
California, because the current system does not address the
problem of language barriers.
A series of disasters that struck close to home were the
wildfires in southern California. They struck parts of
AB 1116
Page 3
communities having a significant population of individuals with
limited English proficiency, endangering the lives of 300,000
such individuals. News reports brought to light the frustration
and confusion during evacuations between individuals with
limited understanding of English and emergency responders.
Another devastating natural disaster to limited English speakers
was Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana. Evacuation
notices sent out during Hurricane Katrina were only provided in
English, which could not have helped the city since it has a
sizeable immigrant and refugee population speaking little to no
English. For example, the U.S. Congressional testimony
highlighted the story of a Vietnamese man from Mississippi. He
spent five days in a wrecked fishing boat and was nearly killed,
because he did not understand the evacuation orders issued prior
to Hurricane Katrina.
The author states, before another disaster strikes California,
our state and local agencies must prepare to accommodate
communication for large numbers of individuals with limited
understanding of English. AB 1116 is a cost-effective measure
that builds upon our existing emergency preparedness system to
respond to the needs of these individuals. This is a vital
addition to California's emergency services procedures that will
save lives and minimize injuries and damages through a
coordinated communication effort of the responders with the
victims.
Disaster preparedness report : The Tomas Rivera Policy Institute
and Asian Pacific American Legal Center worked together to
release a report in June 2008, that examines how communities
with large populations with LEP immigrants would fare in the
face of a natural disaster striking Southern California. After
conducting interviews with emergency service personnel, both in
local governments and in non-profit organizations, and holding
focus groups with LEP community members in their languages, they
came away with the several findings:
1)Both county and city government agencies and nonprofit relief
organizations, for the most part, are not providing culturally
sensitive disaster preparedness education in languages that
AB 1116
Page 4
reflect the demographics of the populations being served.
2)Currently, there are no tools in place to provide immediate
translation of all emergency information in a rapid manner to
LEP populations in Southern California.
3)First responders rely on bilingual family members, often
children, to provide translation for officers, deputies, fire
personnel, etc.
4)Latino, Chinese, and Vietnamese focus group participants named
their respective native language radio stations as the first
place they turn to for emergency information, highlighting the
importance of these ethnic media outlets as a tool for
communication.
5)All first response personnel interviewed stated that
immigration status is not considered when providing disaster
services, but none of the agencies interviewed had in place
mechanisms by which to reassure the public that immigration
status is not asked during disaster response.
Integrating emergency services : Little Hoover Commission issued
a report in 2006, titled "Preparing for Catastrophic Events"
that charged California for not being prepared to respond to a
catastrophic emergency. Since then, the Governor's Office of
Emergency Services has worked with the Office of Homeland
Security and, together, they have taken steps to improve the
performance in the area of emergency preparedness through their
Golden Guardian exercises. In 2007, legislation required the
Office of Emergency Services to merge with the Office of
Homeland Security to become the Cal EMA ÝAB 38 (Nava), Chapter
372, Statutes of 2008]. Even with the recent improvements, the
Little Hoover Commission 2006 report indicates that our state
and local agencies must be prepared to accommodate communication
for large numbers of LEP individuals. This bill seeks to build
on our existing emergency preparedness system to respond to this
particular need.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
AB 1116
Page 5
"This bill would require the California Emergency Management
Agency (Cal EMA) to consider multiple languages and needs of
populations who have limited English language proficiency during
emergency preparedness planning, response, and recovery.
"This bill is unnecessary. Cal EMA already considers the needs
of limited English proficiency populations when revising and
preparing emergency preparedness materials. Moreover, I will
direct Cal EMA to review local plans to account for populations
that do not speak English when alerts for evacuation are issued
or when emergency medical care is required at shelters."
Analysis Prepared by : Felipe Lopez / G. O. / (916) 319-2531
FN: 0002957