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California Law (Last Updated: March 4, 2014) |
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Government Code - GOV |
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Title 1. GENERAL |
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Division 7. MISCELLANEOUS |
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Chapter 17.5. Use of a Foreign Language in Public Services |
Section 7299.4.
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(a) Notwithstanding any other provision in this chapter, each state agency shall conduct an assessment and develop and update an implementation plan that complies with the requirements of this chapter.
(b) Each agency shall conduct a survey of each of its local offices every two years to determine all of the following:
(1) The number of public contact positions in each local office.
(2) The number of qualified bilingual employees in public contact positions in each local office, and the languages they speak, other than English.
(3) The number and percentage of non-English-speaking people served by each local office, broken down by native language.
(4) The number of anticipated vacancies in public contact positions.
(5) Whether the use of other available options, including contracted telephone-based interpretation services, in addition to qualified bilingual persons in public contact positions, is serving the language needs of the people served by the agency.
(6) A list of all written materials that are required to be translated or otherwise made accessible to non- or limited-English-speaking individuals by Sections 7295.2 and 7295.4.
(7) A list of materials identified in paragraph (6) that have been translated and languages into which they have been translated.
(8) The number of additional qualified bilingual public contact staff, if any, needed at each local office to comply with this chapter.
(9) Any other relevant information requested by the Department of Human Resources.
(c) Each agency shall calculate the percentage of non-English-speaking people served by each local office by rounding the percentage arrived at to the nearest whole percentage point.
The survey results and any additional information requested shall be reported in the form and at the time required by the Department of Human Resources, and delivered to the department not later than October 1 of every even-numbered year beginning with 2008.
(d) Beginning in 2009 and in every odd-numbered year thereafter, each state agency shall develop an implementation plan that, at a minimum, addresses all of the following:
(1) The name, position, and contact information of the employee designated by the agency to be responsible for overseeing implementation of the plan.
(2) A description of the agency's procedures for identifying written materials that need to be translated.
(3) A description of the agency's procedures for identifying language needs at local offices and assigning qualified bilingual staff.
(4) A description of how the agency recruits qualified bilingual staff.
(5) A description of any training the agency provides to its staff on the provision of services to non- or limited-English-speaking individuals.
(6) A detailed description of how the agency plans to address any deficiencies in meeting the requirements of this chapter, including, but not limited to, the failure to translate written materials or employ sufficient numbers of qualified bilingual employees in public contact positions at local offices, the proposed actions to be taken to address the deficiencies, and the proposed dates by when the deficiencies can be remedied.
(7) A description of the agency's procedures for accepting and resolving complaints of an alleged violation of this chapter.
(8) A description of how the agency complies with any federal or other state laws that require the provision of linguistically accessible services to the public.
(9) Any other relevant information requested by the Department of Human Resources.
(e) In developing its implementation plan in 2003, each state agency may rely upon data gathered from its 2002 survey.
(f) Each state agency shall submit its implementation plan to the Department of Human Resources no later than October 1 of each applicable year. The department shall review each plan, and, if it determines that the plan fails to address the identified deficiencies, shall order the agency to supplement or make changes to its plan. A state agency that has been determined to be deficient shall report to the Department of Human Resources every six months on its progress in addressing the identified deficiencies.
(g) If the Department of Human Resources determines that a state agency has not made reasonable progress toward complying with this chapter, the department may issue orders that it deems appropriate to effectuate the purposes of this chapter.