BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2253
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2253 (Ting) - As Amended: April 10, 2014
Policy Committee: Accountability
and Administrative Review Vote: 12 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires state agencies that serve a substantial
number of non-English speakers under the Dymally-Alatorre
Bilingual Services Act (Dymally-Alatorre) to provide translated
forms and processes for submitting complaints about language
access. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires agencies to post translated complaint forms and
information about filing complaints on the homepages of their
websites and have them available at their offices by July 1,
2015.
2)Clarifies that requirements of Dymally-Alatorre apply to
statewide offices.
3)Requires the Department of Human Resources (CalHR) to issue
orders to agencies when it determines that the agencies have
not made reasonable progress toward complying with
Dymally-Alatorre.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Varying costs to state agencies, likely in the range of
$150,000 to $200,000 statewide to post translated complaint
forms on their websites. Agencies are currently required to
post information in their offices regarding language access
complaint procedures and some have this information on their
websites.
2)Minor and absorbable costs to CalHR to issue orders to
agencies they determine have not made reasonable progress
AB 2253
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toward complying with Dymally-Alatorre. This requirement is
optional under current law and CalHR indicates it already
works with departments to address identified deficiencies.
3)Negligible fiscal impact to CalHR to apply requirements of
Dymally-Alatorre to statewide offices. CalHR indicates they
already do this for statewide offices that have contact with
the public.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, agency websites vary greatly
in providing information about complaints. Some have specific
online complaint forms about Dymally-Alatorre non-compliance
while others have no references to the law or easily-found
information on how to complain about language barriers. When
forms or complaint information is online, it is usually
available only in English, though some forms are available in
Spanish, and some agencies have website functions that
translate content into various languages.
The author believes, "This bill's requirement to post
translated language-access complaint forms on agencies' home
pages and making them available in state offices would empower
non-English speakers to communicate with their government more
effectively."
2)Background . The Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act
requires agencies to provide the same information that is
available in English in other languages if the agency services
a "substantial number" of non-English speakers. To determine
which languages must be included, agencies are required to
conduct surveys every other year to assess their contact with
non-English speakers. They must create or update
implementation plans to ensure compliance and submit them to
CalHR.
According to a recent Statewide Language Survey and
Implementation Plan Report, 92% of agencies have procedures in
place to capture language access complaints. Agencies
typically post information in their offices about how to
complain about language access issues and CalHR has a
toll-free number to accept language access complaints.
AB 2253
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Agency websites vary greatly in providing information. Some
have specific online complaint forms about Dymally-Alatorre
non-compliance while others have no references to the law or
easily-found information on how to complain about language
barriers. When a language barrier complaint form or complaint
information is online, it is usually available only in
English. Some forms are available in Spanish and some
agencies have functions on their websites that translate
content into various languages.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081