I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4809 

To require the White House and each agency to provide an official website 

in the five most commonly used languages in the United States other 

than English as determined by the Census data and any other languages 

determined to be appropriate by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 23, 2019 

Mr. CORREA (for himself, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. COSTA, Ms. 

SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. HAALAND, 

Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JUDY CHU of 

California, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. SMITH of Washington, 

Mr. ROUDA, Ms. PORTER, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. CA ́RDENAS, 

Ms. LEE of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. SOTO, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mrs. 

WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TAKANO, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. 

GALLEGO, Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform 

A BILL 

To require the White House and each agency to provide 

an official website in the five most commonly used languages in the United States other than English as determined by the Census data and any other languages determined to be appropriate by the Director of the Office 

of Management and Budget, and for other purposes. 


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•HR 4809 IH

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘White House Account5 ability for Language Diversity Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) In the past decades it has become standard 

9 practice to publish versions of the White House and 

10 other agency websites in Spanish. 

11 (2) At least 36,000,000 United States residents 

12 who speak Spanish as their first language depend 

13 upon these websites to access important information 

14 that can play a critical role in their life. 

15 (3) In 2010, for 59,000,000 people, English 

16 was not their first language. 

17 (4) In addition to English, the top languages in 

18 the United States are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, 

19 Vietnamese, and French. 

20 (5) Millions of people within the United States 

21 will benefit by having websites translated into mul22 tiple languages. 

23 (6) The United States of America is a diverse 

24 Nation and, as such, does not have an official lan25 guage. 


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1 (7) Since our founding, our country has been in 

2 a constant state of growth. We have consistently 

3 grown more multilingual because of people from 

4 across the world seeking a better future while car5 rying a hope of achieving the American dream. 

6 (8) As this is happening, the United States 

7 must adapt and make our democracy more accessible 

8 for everyone. 

9 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 

10 The purpose of this Act is to— 

11 (1) require the White House and agencies to 

12 provide resources in multiple languages so that peo13 ple can read information in the language they are 

14 most comfortable with; and 

15 (2) acknowledge the diversity of our country 

16 and use creative solutions to make sure that there 

17 is equity in accessing information from our govern18 ment. 

19 SEC. 4. FIVE MOST COMMONLY USED LANGUAGE WEBSITES 

20 REQUIRED. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

22 date of the enactment of this Act, the White House and 

23 the head of each agency shall establish an official website 

24 in the five most commonly used languages in the United 

25 States other than English as determined by the Census 


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1 data and any other language determined to be appropriate 

2 by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 

3 to increase accessibility to everyone residing in the United 

4 States. Any such website may only include official content 

5 and is not required to translate external websites that are 

6 not official content. Any website in a language other than 

7 English shall be substantially similar in design and scope 

8 of content to the English version. 

9 (b) LINK ON MAIN PAGE.—A link to the website re10 quired under subsection (a) shall be easily accessible and 

11 in plain view on the main page of the English version of 

12 the White House and agency website. The link shall be 

13 in the language of that website. 

14 (c) MAINTENANCE OF WEBSITE.—The President and 

15 the head of each agency shall maintain and update the 

16 website required under subsection (a) on a regular basis. 

17 (d) AGENCY DEFINED.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 

18 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 

19 States Code. 

Æ 


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