What's happening
This bill requires New York state agencies to provide language interpretation and translation services to people with limited English proficiency.
Why it matters
Improves access to government services for immigrants and other non-English speakers. by requiring agencies to offer both interpretation and translation for any language spoken by at least 5% or 1,000 people served, which can significantly reduce barriers to vital programs like healthcare, public benefits, and legal assistance.
Establishes quality standards for language services,. prohibiting the use of untrained interpreters (including children except in emergencies) and online tools like Google Translate, ensuring that translations and interpretations are accurate and culturally competent—which can prevent misunderstandings with major consequences for individuals.
Creates robust agency accountability and oversight mechanisms,. including mandatory language access plans, annual internal monitoring, public complaints systems, and designated language access coordinators; this means agencies must actively track their performance and improve over time, rather than treating language access as an afterthought.
Empowers individuals with a private right of action,. meaning people denied language services can sue the agency, helping to enforce compliance and deter neglect—making the right to language access more than just a policy, but a legally protected entitlement.
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Who cares
People with limited English proficiency
They would receive free, prompt interpretation throughout agency interactions and could sue to enforce language-access rights.
Public-facing state agencies and their local entities
They would have to publish language-access plans, designate coordinators, train employees annually and investigate language-access complaints.
Benefit applicants and recipients with limited English proficiency
Denial of required language services would constitute good cause for missed appointments, late responses or failures to certify or recertify for benefits.
Interpretation and translation providers
Agency coordinators would procure contract language services where appropriate and enforce competency standards that exclude online translation tools from qualifying as competent translation.
Headline styles
Guarantee Free Translation Services
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
2 Co-sponsors
History
- Referred to investigations and government operations
- Referred to investigations and government operations
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Guarantee Language Access Services
In Assembly Committee · Governmental Operations · Sponsor Ron Kim
Full text
5 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
2986
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 31, 2019
Introduced by Sen. GOUNARDES -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations
AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring state agencies that directly serve the public to enact policies to ensure that people who do not speak English well receive the interpretation and translation services they need in order to access vital government programs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 301 of the executive law is renumbered section 302 and a new section 301 is added to read as follows:
§ 301. Agency language interpretation. 1. Definitions. As used in this section: (a) "Agency covered language" shall mean every non-English language used by a limited English proficient population that constitutes five percent or one thousand individuals, whichever is less, of the population served or encountered, or likely to be served or encountered, by the agency.
(b) "Agency" shall mean any statewide government agency, department, or program that furnishes information or renders services, programs, or activities directly to the public or contracts with other entities, either directly or indirectly, to conduct programs, services, or activities, and all political subdivisions and local entities of such statewide government agency, department, or program. Agencies include, but are not limited to: the office for the aging; the office of alcoholism and substance abuse services; the office of attorney general; the office of children and family services; the city university of New York; the department of corrections and community supervision; the office of court administration; the division of criminal justice services; the department of education; the board of elections; department of family assistance; the department of health; the division of housing and community
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03812-01-9
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renewal; the division of human rights; the department of financial services; the department of labor; the metropolitan transportation authority; the department of motor vehicles; the office of parks, recreation and historic preservation; the port authority of New York and New Jersey; office for the prevention of domestic violence; office of probation and correctional alternatives; the division of state police; the state university of New York; the office of temporary and disability assistance; and the division of veteran's affairs.
(c) "Competent interpretation" shall mean a trans-language rendition of a spoken message in which the interpreter comprehends the source language and can speak comprehensively in the target language to convey the meaning intended in the source language. The interpreter knows relevant terminology and provides accurate interpretations by choosing equivalent expressions that convey the best matching and meaning to the source language and captures, to the greatest possible extent, all nuances intended in the source message.
(d) "Competent translation" shall mean a trans-language rendition of a written message in which the translator comprehends the source language and can write comprehensively in the target language to convey the meaning intended in the source language. The translator knows relevant terminology and provides accurate translations by choosing equivalent expressions that convey the best matching and meaning to the source language and captures, to the greatest possible extent, all nuances intended in the source message. Competent translation shall not include online translation tools such as Google Translate, Yahoo! Babel Fish, and comparable services.
(e) "Language assistance services" shall mean competent interpretation and translation services.
(f) "Limited English proficient individual" or "LEP individual" shall mean an individual who does not read, write, speak, and/or understand the English language at a level that permits him or her to communicate effectively with the agency.
(g) "Primary language" shall mean the language in which a limited English proficient individual prefers to communicate.
(h) "Vital documents" shall mean printed and online documents that provide information necessary to access or participate in services, programs, and activities of an agency, including but not limited to applications, corresponding instructional materials, legal contracts, stipulations, outreach materials, and written notices or letters that affect or relate to the legal rights or benefits of an individual or the agency's services, programs or benefits and which are used or intended to be used for communicating with individuals or the public.
2. Interpretation services. (a) Every agency shall provide competent interpretation at all stages of the LEP individual's interaction with the agency and at no cost to the LEP individual. Such competent interpretation must be provided promptly but need not be provided in person or face-to-face in order to meet the requirements of this section.
(b) Minor children shall not be used to interpret at any time, except in an extreme emergency. If minor children are used to interpret, a record shall be kept of the incident in the individual's case file, if one exists.
(c) The agency is prohibited from requiring that an LEP individual provide his or her own interpretation services.
(d) Use of untrained or informal interpreters such as the family or friends of an LEP individual shall be actively discouraged. If an LEP individual chooses to use an informal interpreter after being notified
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of the availability of free, timely and competent interpretation, he or she must complete a waiver that is signed by a manager at the agency and by the LEP individual.
3. Language access plan. (a) Each agency shall publish, and update every two years, with the first plan being developed within one hundred eighty days of the effective date of this section, a language access plan that will reflect how the agency will comply with the provisions of this section and all progress made since the agency last submitted a language access plan.
(b) Each language access plan shall be written in consultation with the state chief diversity officer, the statewide language access director, the agency's language access coordinator, the local subdivisions' language access coordinators, and the directors that conduct outreach to limited English proficient populations.
(c) Each language access plan shall set forth, at minimum, the following:
(1) when and by what means the agency will provide language assistance services and an explanation as to how this determination was reached;
(2) the titles of all available translated documents and the corresponding languages into which they have been translated;
(3) the number of public contact positions in the agency and the number of bilingual employees in public contact positions, including the languages they speak;
(4) documentation of the language needs of the population served and the population eligible to be served by the agency;
(5) for agencies that provide individualized programs and services, a system for tracking the primary language of every individual who seeks or receives services from the agency;
(6) a training plan for agency employees which includes, at minimum, annual training on the language access policies of the agency and how to provide language assistance services;
(7) a language access coordinator at the agency, who shall be publicly identified;
(8) if outreach is conducted by the agency, a multi-lingual outreach plan to LEP communities regarding the benefits and services offered by the agency and the language services provided;
(9) a description of the funding and budgetary sources upon which the agency intends to rely to implement its language access plan;
(10) a detailed plan for annual internal monitoring of the agency's compliance with this order; and
(11) an explanation of any areas of current non-compliance, including complaints received and their disposition, the reasons for non-compliance and steps to be taken to remedy areas of non-compliance, and a request for approval of expected future non-compliance, to which the statewide language access director shall respond within sixty days of the request.
(d) At a minimum each agency shall maintain records of all information necessary to complete and verify the information set forth in the language access plan.
4. Agency's language access coordinator. Each agency shall designate a language access coordinator, who shall report directly to the director of the agency. The responsibilities of the agency's language access coordinator shall include:
(a) general oversight of the agency's language access plan;
S. 2986 4
(b) for statewide agencies, oversight, central coordination, and technical assistance to the agency's political subdivision and local entities in their implementation of the provisions of this section;
(c) ensuring that the provision of language assistance services by the agency meets acceptable standards of translation or interpretation;
(d) procurement of contract language services where appropriate and management of the relationship with all language service contractors;
(e) tracking, monitoring and investigating public complaints regarding language access services at the agency;
(f) overseeing staff training on the language access plan, language policy, and how to obtain language services for LEP individuals;
(g) ensuring that recordkeeping and monitoring requirements of this section are complied with;
(h) compiling, maintaining, and disseminating all translated documents to be used by other agency entities, including all local offices and political subdivisions; and
(i) overseeing and coordinating the agency's annual internal monitoring, testing and training activities.
5. Monitoring and complaints. (a) The agency shall monitor its own compliance with the requirements of this section by annually collecting data on the provision of language assistance services, the availability of translated materials, whether signage is properly posted, and any other relevant measures. This information and any other collected during the internal monitoring process shall be made available to the statewide language access director. The monitoring plan shall include feedback from the public, community groups and other stakeholders.
(b) The agency shall establish a system whereby LEP individuals may submit complaints to the agency regarding language access services provision or lack thereof, and all such complaints shall be investigated by the agency language access coordinator and/or such individuals within the agency as the language access coordinator shall determine. The agency must provide all LEP individuals submitting complaints written notification of the results of any investigations resulting from such complaints, including a description of the corrective action to be taken in response to the complaint, if such corrective action is required.
6. Good cause. It shall be good cause for an individual's failure to respond to an agency inquiry or requirement, failure to certify or re-certify for benefits, failure to attend mandatory appointments or for an untimely response, if the LEP individual is denied language services as required under this section.
7. Statewide oversight, coordination and assistance. (a) The director of state operations shall provide oversight, central coordination and technical assistance to agencies in their implementation of the provisions of this order and ensure that the provision of services by agencies meets acceptable standards of translation or interpretation.
(b) There shall be a statewide language access director within the office of the director of state operations, who is charged with oversight with all agencies' compliance with the provisions of this section. The statewide language access director shall:
(1) review and monitor each agency's language access plan for compliance with this section and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964;
(2) track and monitor public complaints regarding language access violations at each agency and, where necessary, issue written findings of noncompliance to the agency regarding failures to provide language access;
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(3) review and monitor the language access coordinators with respect to their performance of responsibilities under this section; and
(4) facilitate sharing of best practices and interagency collaboration to improve compliance with the provisions of this section.
(c) Every agency shall cooperate with the statewide language access director and shall furnish such information and assistance as the statewide language access director determines is reasonably necessary to fulfill these duties.
8. Private right of action; complaints. Individuals shall have a private right of action to enforce the rights granted under this section as set forth under subdivisions one through six of this section.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the executive law, in relation to requiring state agen- cies that directly serve the public to enact policies to ensure that people who do not speak English well receive the interpretation and translation services they need in order to access vital government programs
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill will ensures equal access to vital government programs between English and non-English proficient New Yorkers. This bill also requires the designation of a state-wide language access coordinator.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill amends and renumbers section 301 to 302 and adds a new section 301 to the Executive Law, which requires government agen- cies, departments, or programs to provide competent interpretation to each limited English proficient population that constitutes five percent or one thousand individuals, whichever is less, of the population served or encountered, or likely to be served or encountered, by the agency.
Section two of the bill sets forth the effective date as the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Existing law
Currently, there is no statutory requirement to provide interpretation services to New Yorkers regarding access to vital government programs provided or administered by State. However, on October 6, 2011, Governor Cuomo issued Executive Order 26, which directed State agencies to provide language assistance services (translation and interpretation) to people of Limited English Proficiency (LEP).
Justification
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published data in 2015 detailing the most popular non-english household languages spoken in each of the 50 states.
According to their research, New York hosted 1,240,490 Spanish speakers, 350,976 Chinese speakers, among the more than 200 languages spoken across the State.
According to public access data from the City of New York, half of all those who reside in New York City speak a language other than English at home. Additionally, New York City has the largest Chinese population of any city outside of Asia, the largest population of people with West Indian ancestry than any city outside of the West Indies, the largest Puerto Rican population of any city in the world and is home to more people of Dominican ancestry than any other city in the world, barring Santo Domingo.
To provide further context to New York agencies' need for accessible interpretation services, the Buffalo City School District published some information about non-English proficient speakers in their jurisdiction, in 2016. The number of English Language Learner (ELL) students in the Buffalo Public School System (as of 2016) more than doubled in the last decade, increasing from 2,754 in 2006 to 5,668 in 2016.
The data provided demonstrates a mere glimpse of the need for New York State agency language access for LEP individuals.
This bill will codify the principle of accessibility and equitable distribution of information and State provided services and programs. The families that speak English proficiently should not hold an advan- tage over the families that speak a different primary language in our State.
Prior legislative history
2018: S7632 - Referred to Investigations and Governmental Operations.
Fiscal implications
Undetermined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have become a law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.