BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2253
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2253 (Ting)
As Amended April 10, 2014
Majority vote
ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW 12-0 APPROPRIATIONS
17-0
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Ayes:|Frazier, Achadjian, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Buchanan, Ian | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Calderon, Cooley, Gorell, | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Hagman, Lowenthal, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Medina, Quirk-Silva, | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| |Salas, Wagner | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY : Requires state agencies that serve a substantial number of
non-English speakers, as defined, 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 Web sites and have
them available at their offices.
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.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Aims to ensure people are not precluded from accessing public
services because of language barriers.
2)Requires state agencies to conduct language surveys every other year
to assess the language needs of people served.
AB 2253
Page 2
3)Specifies that agencies must provide the same information that is
available in English in other languages if the agencies serve a
"substantial number" of non-English speakers.
4)Defines "substantial number" as non-English speakers comprising 5%
or more of contacts encountered by agencies when doing the language
survey required above.
5)Charges CalHR with ensuring agencies comply with Dymally-Alatorre
and provides that CalHR may issue orders to agencies if they have
not made reasonable progress towards complying with language access
requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee:
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 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 : Dymally-Alatorre became law in 1973 with the Legislative
intent of ensuring people are not precluded from accessing public
services because of language barriers. It 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 under the
defined threshold, agencies are required to conduct surveys every
other year to assess their contact with non-English speakers. Then,
they must create or update implementation plans to ensure compliance
and submit them to CalHR.
Dymally-Alatorre requires agencies to report, among other things,
AB 2253
Page 3
their procedures for accepting and resolving language access
complaints. According to a recent Statewide Language Survey and
Implementation Plan Report, 92% of agencies have procedures in place
to capture language access complaints. While agencies 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, a review of some agency websites showed
great variation in information about complaints. Some had specific
online complaint forms about Dymally-Alatorre non-compliance while
others had no references to the law or easily-found information on how
to complain about language barriers.
When language barrier complaint forms or complaint information was
present online, it was usually available only in English. Though,
some forms were available in Spanish and some agencies have functions
on their websites that translate content into various languages.
According to the author, 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.
Providing this depth of access will likely increase the number of
language-access complaints, which could lead agencies to better meet
the needs of the people they are charged with serving.
This bill also clarifies that Dymally-Alatorre requirements apply to
agencies' statewide offices. Language in current law applies these
requirements to local offices. CalHR does not believe that this
clarification will impact agencies since they already apply
Dymally-Alatorre requirements to local and statewide offices that have
contact with the public.
CalHR adds that the provision in this bill that requires instead of
allows CalHR to issue orders to agencies when it determines that the
agencies have not made reasonable progress toward complying with
Dymally-Alatorre will likely not have a major impact since CalHR
already works with departments to address identified deficiencies.
Analysis Prepared by : Scott Herbstman / A. & A.R. / (916) 319-3600
FN: 0003660
AB 2253
Page 4