BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 438|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 438
Author: Chiu (D), et al.
Amended: 9/4/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LABOR & IND. REL. COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/24/15
AYES: Mendoza, Stone, Jackson, Leno, Mitchell
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-19, 5/14/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: State government: workers compensation:
compensation
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill promotes the translation of Division of
Workers' Compensation (DWC) and Department of Industrial
Relations (DIR) forms to additional languages beyond English and
Spanish.
Senate Floor Amendments of 9/4/15 specify a list of languages
and forms that must be translated in the workers' compensation
system.
ANALYSIS:
AB 438
Page 2
Existing law:
1)Creates the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act, which
requires that:
a) Every state agency that makes contact with a substantial
number of non-English speakers in providing information or
services must employ a sufficient number of qualified
bilingual persons in public contact positions. (Government
Code §7292)
b) Any state agency materials explaining services available
to the public shall be translated into any non-English
language spoken by a substantial number of the public
served by the agency. The determination of when these
materials are necessary when dealing with local agencies
shall be left to the discretion of the local agency.
(Government Code §7295)
2)Requires that if a state agency finds that the factors below
exist, the state agency must distribute the applicable written
materials in the appropriate non-English language through its
statewide and local offices or facilities to
non-English-speaking persons, or make translation aids, as
specified, available in completing and understanding English
forms or questionnaires.
a) The written materials require the furnishing of
information from an individual or provide that individual
with information.
b) The information affects the individual's rights, duties,
or privileges with regard to that agency's services or
benefits.
c) The statewide or local office or facility of the agency
with which the individual is dealing, serves a substantial
number of non-English-speaking persons. (Government Code
§7295.4)
3)Defines a "substantial number of non-English-speaking people"
as members of a group who either do not speak English, or who
are unable to effectively communicate in English because it is
not their native language, and who comprise 5 percent or more
AB 438
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of the people served by the statewide or any local office or
facility of a state agency. (Government Code §7296.2)
This bill:
1)Strikes the provisions described above and instead requires
that the following forms must be translated into English,
Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese:
a) The initial industrial injury claim form;
b) The Return-to-Work Supplement Program;
c) Supplemental Job Displacement Voucher; and
d) DWC Fact Sheets.
2)Requires that, commencing on January 1, 2018, the
Administrative Director must annually review any forms or
documents not listed above to see if they need to be
translated. Any recommended translations and translated
documents must be submitted to the Legislature.
Background
As the author notes in his background materials, "Workers are
vulnerable to injury on the job regardless of the language they
speak." Non-English speaking injured workers face challenges
when seeking workers' compensation benefits, including
difficulty filling out even basic forms, meeting deadlines that
they were unable to understand from English language notices,
and otherwise navigating the complexities of the workers'
compensation system.
The author asserts that the DWC is currently not even fully
compliant with existing law mandating both English and Spanish
language forms and notices, but even with the 2 languages, the
number of translated forms is simply not sufficient in light of
the ethnic diversity in California. For example, the author
points out that Massachusetts has 8 languages available to users
of its workers' compensation system. Thus, the bill is aimed at
expanding access to DWC's information by expanding the number of
languages DWC would be required to use.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
AB 438
Page 4
SUPPORT: (Verified9/4/15)
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Workers' Compensation Interpreters Association
Californian Applicants' Attorney Association
Organization of SMUD Employees
San Bernardino Public Employees Association
San Diego County Court Employees Association
San Luis Obispo County Employees Association
OPPOSITION: (Verified9/4/15)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: Proponents argue that, even for well
educated workers, the California's workers' compensation system
can be challenging to comprehend. Proponents note that, when a
worker is hurt the system can seem like it is set up not to
work, and this problem is only exasperated when forms and
information on the Internet are not in their native language.
Proponents note that, though legislation from 1972 requires all
governmental agencies to translate forms and information,
currently DWC only translates forms into English and Spanish.
Proponents believe this AB 438 will encourage both DIR and DWC
to translate forms and information into additional languages
when required by law.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-19, 5/14/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
Hadley, Holden, Irwin, Jones-Sawyer, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
Lopez, Low, Maienschein, McCarty, Medina, Mullin, Nazarian,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond,
Ting, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NOES: Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Brough, Chávez, Dahle, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Grove, Harper, Jones, Kim, Mathis, Mayes,
AB 438
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Melendez, Obernolte, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron
NO VOTE RECORDED: Roger Hernández
Prepared by:Gideon Baum / L. & I. R. / (916) 651-1556
9/8/15 21:44:33
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