AB 2253, as introduced, Ting. Bilingual services: implementation plans.
The Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act requires each state agency to conduct a survey, related to its bilingual services, of each of its local offices every two years to determine specified information, and to report results and any additional information requested to the Department of Human Resources. The act requires each agency that serves a substantial number of non-English-speaking people who comprise 5% or more of the people served to develop an implementation plan, as specified, in every odd-numbered year, and to submit the implementation plan to the department for its review. The act authorizes the department, if it determines that a state agency has not made reasonable progress toward complying with the act, to issue orders that it deems appropriate to effectuate the purposes of the act.
This bill would instead require the department, if it determines that a state agency has not made reasonable progress toward complying with the act, to issue orders that it deems appropriate to effectuate the purposes of the act.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 7299.4 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision in this chapter,
4each state agency shall conduct a language survey and develop
5and update an implementation plan that complies with the
6requirements of this chapter.
7(b) Each agency shall conduct a language survey of each of its
8local offices every two years to determine and provide all of the
9following:
10(1) The name, position, and contact information of the employee
11designated by the agency responsible for complying with this
12chapter.
13(2) The number of public contact positions in each local office.
14(3) The number of qualified
bilingual employees in public
15contact positions in each local office, and the languages they speak,
16other than English.
17(4) The number and percentage of non-English-speaking people
18served by each local office, broken down by native language.
19(5) The number of anticipated vacancies in public contact
20positions.
21(6) Whether the use of other available options, including
22contracted telephone-based interpretation services, in addition to
23qualified bilingual persons in public contact positions, is serving
24the language needs of the people served by the agency.
25(7) A list of all written materials that are required to be translated
26or otherwise made accessible to non- or limited-English-speaking
27individuals by Sections 7295.2 and 7295.4.
28(8) A list of materials identified in paragraph (7) that have been
29translated and languages into which they have been translated.
30(9) The number of additional qualified bilingual public contact
31staff, if any, needed at each local office to comply with this chapter.
32(10) A detailed description of the agency’s procedures for
33identifying written materials that are required to be translated.
34(11) Each agency shall calculate the percentage of
35non-English-speaking people served by each local office by
36rounding the percentage arrived at to the nearest whole percentage
37point.
P3 1(12) A detailed description of the agency’s procedures for
2identifying language needs at local offices and assigning qualified
3
bilingual staff to those offices.
4(13) A detailed description of how the agency recruits qualified
5bilingual staff in local offices.
6(14) A detailed description of any training the agency provides
7to its staff on the provision of services to non- or
8limited-English-speaking individuals, frequency of training, and
9date of most recent training.
10(15) A detailed description of the agency’s procedures for
11accepting and resolving complaints of an alleged violation due to
12failure to make available translated documents or provide
13interpreter service through bilingual staff or contract services.
14(16) A detailed description of how the agency complies with
15any federal or other state laws that require the provision of
16linguistically accessible services to the
public.
17(17) Any other relevant information requested by the Department
18of Human Resources.
19(c) The language survey results and any additional information
20requested shall be reported in the form and at the time required by
21the Department of Human Resources, and delivered to the
22department not later than October 1 of every even-numbered year.
23(d) Every odd-numbered year, each agency that served a
24substantial number of non-English-speaking people who comprise
255 percent or more of the people served shall develop an
26implementation plan that provides a detailed description of how
27the agency plans to address any deficiencies in meeting the
28requirements of this chapter, including, but not limited to, the
29failure to translate written materials or employ sufficient numbers
30of qualified bilingual employees in public contact
positions at local
31offices, the proposed actions to be taken to address the deficiencies,
32and the proposed dates by when the deficiencies will be remedied.
33(e) In developing its implementation plan, each state agency
34may rely upon data gathered from its most recent language survey.
35(f) Each state agency shall submit its implementation plan to
36the Department of Human Resources no later than October 1 of
37each applicable year. The Department of Human Resources shall
38review each implementation plan, and, if it determines that the
39implementation plan fails to address the identified deficiencies,
40shall order the agency to supplement or make changes to its plan.
P4 1A state agency that has been determined to be deficient shall report
2to the Department of Human Resources every six months on its
3progress in addressing the identified deficiencies.
4(g) If the Department of Human Resources determines that a
5state agency has not made reasonable progress toward complying
6with this chapter, the departmentbegin delete mayend deletebegin insert shallend insert issue orders that it
7deems appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.
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