STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6890
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 8, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LINARES -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Cities
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to limited-English proficiency requirements for the agencies
of the city of New York; and to amend the executive law, in relation
to limited-English proficiency requirements for state agencies provid-
ing direct public services in a city with a population of one million
or more
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision a of section 8-1002 of the administrative code
2 of the city of New York, as added by local law 73 of the city of New
3 York for the year 2003, is amended to read as follows:
4 a. ["Agency"] Except for the purposes of section 8-1003.1 of this
5 chapter, "agency" means the human resources administration/department of
6 social services, including any part, subdivision, field office or satel-
7 lite facility thereof.
8 § 2. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended by
9 adding a new section 8-1003.1 to read as follows:
10 § 8-1003.1 Limited-English proficiency requirements. a. For the
11 purposes of this section, the following terms shall have the following
12 meanings:
13 1. "direct public services" shall mean services administered by an
14 agency directly to program beneficiaries and/or participants.
15 2. "essential public documents" shall mean those documents most
16 commonly distributed to the public that contain elicit important and
17 necessary information regarding the provision of basic city services.
18 b. 1. Every city agency that provides direct public services shall
19 ensure meaningful access to such services by taking reasonable steps to
20 develop and implement agency-specific language assistance plans regard-
21 ing limited-English proficient persons.
22 2. Every city agency that provides services to the public that are not
23 programmatic in nature, such as emergency services, shall implement the
24 provisions of this section to the extent practicable.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10218-01-5
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1 c. Every city agency shall:
2 1. designate a language access coordinator within forty-five days of
3 the effective date of this section to oversee the creation and execution
4 of an agency-specific internal language access policy and implementation
5 plan;
6 2. develop such language access policies and implementation plans by
7 January first, two thousand sixteen. Such plan shall be developed by
8 assessing the following four factors:
9 (i) the number or proportion of limited-English proficient persons in
10 the eligible service population;
11 (ii) the frequency with which limited-English proficient persons come
12 into contact with the agency;
13 (iii) the importance of the benefit, service, information or encounter
14 to the limited-English proficient persons, including the consequences of
15 lack of language services or inadequate interpretation or translation;
16 and
17 (iv) the resources available to the agency and the costs of providing
18 various types of language services;
19 3. provide services in languages based on at least the top six limit-
20 ed-English proficiency languages spoken by the population of the city,
21 as those languages are determined by the department of city planning,
22 based on United States census data, and as those languages are relevant
23 to services offered by each agency;
24 4. ensure that the language access policy and implementation plan
25 includes the following elements for limited-English proficient persons:
26 (i) identification and translation of essential public documents
27 provided to or completed by program beneficiaries and/or participants;
28 (ii) interpretation services, including, but not limited to, the use
29 of telephonic interpretation services for the top six languages, as
30 determined pursuant to paragraph three of this subdivision and others as
31 appropriate;
32 (iii) training of frontline workers and managers on language access
33 policies and procedures;
34 (iv) posting of signage in conspicuous locations about the availabili-
35 ty of free interpretation services;
36 (v) establishment of an appropriate monitoring and measurement system
37 regarding the provision of agency language services; and
38 (vi) creation of appropriate public awareness strategies for the agen-
39 cies' services populations; and
40 5. reflect the principles of plain language communication as provided
41 in guidance issued by the mayor's office of adult education.
42 d. The mayor's office of operations shall provide technical assistance
43 to individual agencies and coordinate and oversee agency compliance with
44 this section.
45 § 3. The executive law is amended by adding a new article 14-A to read
46 as follows:
47 ARTICLE 14-A
48 LIMITED-ENGLISH PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE AGENCIES
49 Section 280. Definitions.
50 281. Limited-English proficiency requirements for certain state
51 agencies.
52 § 280. Definitions. For purposes of this article, the following terms
53 shall have the following meanings:
54 1. "direct public services" means services administered by an agency
55 directly to program beneficiaries and/or participants;
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1 2. "essential public documents" means those documents most commonly
2 distributed to the public that contain important and necessary informa-
3 tion regarding the provision of basic city services;
4 3. "limited-English proficient persons" means people who identify as
5 being or are unable to speak, read or write the English language at a
6 level that permits effective interaction with an agency;
7 4. "state agency" means any state department, board, bureau, division,
8 commission, committee, council, office or other governmental entity
9 performing a governmental or proprietary function for the state, except
10 for the judiciary or the state legislature.
11 § 281. Limited-English proficiency requirements for certain state
12 agencies. 1. Every state agency that provides direct public services in
13 cities with a population of one million or more shall ensure meaningful
14 access to such services by taking reasonable steps to develop and imple-
15 ment agency-specific language assistance plans regarding limited-English
16 proficient persons.
17 2. Every state agency providing direct public services in a city with
18 a population of one million or more shall:
19 (a) designate a language access coordinator within forty-five days of
20 the effective date of this section to oversee the creation and execution
21 of an agency-specific internal language access policy and implementation
22 plan;
23 (b) develop such language access policies and implementation plans by
24 January first, two thousand sixteen. Such plan shall be developed by
25 assessing the following four factors:
26 (i) the number or proportion of limited-English proficient persons in
27 the eligible service population;
28 (ii) the frequency with which limited-English proficient persons come
29 into contact with the agency;
30 (iii) the importance of the benefit, service, information or encounter
31 to the limited-English proficient persons, including the consequences of
32 lack of language services or inadequate interpretation or translation;
33 and
34 (iv) the resources available to the agency and the costs of providing
35 various types of language services;
36 (c) provide services in languages based on at least the top six
37 languages spoken by the limited-English proficiency population of the
38 city with a population of one million or more, as those languages are
39 relevant to services offered by each agency;
40 (d) ensure that the language access policy and implementation plan
41 includes the following elements for limited-English proficient persons:
42 (i) identification and translation of essential public documents
43 provided to or completed by program beneficiaries and/or participants;
44 (ii) interpretation services, including, but not limited to, the use
45 of telephonic interpretation services for the top six languages, as
46 determined pursuant to paragraph (c) of this subdivision and others as
47 appropriate;
48 (iii) training of frontline workers and managers on language access
49 policies and procedures;
50 (iv) posting of signage in conspicuous locations about the availabili-
51 ty of free interpretation services;
52 (v) establishment of an appropriate monitoring and measurement system
53 regarding the provision of agency language services; and
54 (vi) creation of appropriate public awareness strategies for the agen-
55 cies' services populations.
56 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
