II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4512 

To establish requirements for Federal agencies to ensure that individuals 

with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities can access 

the services, activities, programs, and benefits of those agencies. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 6, 2020 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. CASEY, Mr. BROWN, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. 

WARREN, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To establish requirements for Federal agencies to ensure 

that individuals with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities can access the services, activities, 

programs, and benefits of those agencies. 

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 ‘‘Equal Access to Infor5 mation Act of 2020’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means an 

2 Executive agency, as defined under section 105 of 

3 title 5, United States Code. 

4 (2) EMERGENCY.—The term ‘‘emergency’’ 

5 means— 

6 (A) an emergency or major disaster de7 clared by the President under the Robert T. 

8 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist9 ance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.); 

10 (B) a national emergency declared by the 

11 President under the National Emergencies Act 

12 (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.); 

13 (C) a public health emergency declared by 

14 the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

15 under section 319 of the Public Health Service 

16 Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); 

17 (D) a fishery disaster declared by the Sec18 retary of Commerce; 

19 (E) a disaster declared by the Adminis20 trator of the Small Business Administration; 

21 (F) a disaster declared by the Secretary of 

22 Agriculture; and 

23 (G) the provision of fire management as24 sistance grants under section 420 of the Robert 


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1 T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency As2 sistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5187). 

3 (3) DISABILITY.—The term ‘‘disability’’ has the 

4 meaning given that term in section 3 of the Ameri5 cans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 

6 12102). 

7 (4) INDIVIDUAL WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PRO8 FICIENCY.—The term ‘‘individual with limited 

9 English proficiency’’ means an individual whose pri10 mary language for communication is not English 

11 and who has a limited ability to read, write, speak, 

12 or understand English. 

13 (5) LANGUAGE ACCESS.—The term ‘‘language 

14 access’’ means the provision of culturally competent 

15 and effective language services to an individual with 

16 limited English proficiency or an individual with dis17 abilities designed to enhance that individual’s access 

18 to, understanding of, or benefit from the services, 

19 activities, programs, or benefits provided by the 

20 agency. 

21 SEC. 3. LANGUAGE ACCESS WORKING GROUP. 

22 (a) DEMOGRAPHIC ASSESSMENT.—Not later than 30 

23 days after the date of enactment of this Act and every 

24 3 years thereafter, the head of each Federal agency shall 

25 conduct a demographic assessment of individuals with limVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:20 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4512.IS S4512

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1 ited English proficiency and individuals with disabilities 

2 who are eligible to be served or likely to be encountered 

3 by that agency. 

4 (b) WORKING GROUP ESTABLISHED.—Not later than 

5 30 days after the conclusion of the demographic assess6 ment under subsection (a), and in order to ensure that 

7 Federal agencies do not discriminate on the basis of na8 tional origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act 

9 of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) and that such agencies 

10 do not discriminate against individuals with disabilities in 

11 violation of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 

12 (29 U.S.C. 794), the head of each Federal agency shall 

13 establish within the agency a Language Access Working 

14 Group, which shall include the following members: 

15 (1) One or more senior officials within the 

16 agency division or directorate. 

17 (2) When possible, 1 or more representatives 

18 from each employee resource group. 

19 (3) The Chief Human Capital Officer or their 

20 appointee. 

21 (4) Such experts as necessary to develop com22 munications for individuals with limited English pro23 ficiency and individuals with disabilities who are eli24 gible to be served or likely to be encountered by that 

25 agency as identified by the demographic assessment 


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1 under subsection (a), including technical and content 

2 experts in communication disabilities, and cross-cul3 tural translations and interpretation services. 

4 (5) A website accessibility expert. 

5 (6) Internal communications personnel. 

6 (c) DUTIES OF THE WORKING GROUP.—Each Lan7 guage Access Working Group shall— 

8 (1) examine the services, activities, programs, 

9 and benefits provided by the agency and assist the 

10 agency in developing and implementing a system by 

11 which individuals with limited English proficiency 

12 and individuals with disabilities can access those 

13 services, activities, programs, and benefits in a man14 ner that is consistent with the fundamental mission 

15 of that agency; 

16 (2) examine the services, activities, programs, 

17 and benefits provided by any recipients of Federal fi18 nancial assistance provided by such agency (referred 

19 to in this Act as ‘‘recipients’’) to provide rec20 ommendations about how the agency can ensure that 

21 recipients of Federal financial assistance provide 

22 meaningful access to applicants, beneficiaries, and 

23 other individuals served by that recipient who are in24 dividuals with limited English proficiency or individ25 uals with disabilities in a manner that is consistent 


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1 with the fundamental mission of that agency without 

2 unduly burdening the essential functions of that re3 cipient; 

4 (3) conduct an annual vitality assessment to de5 termine, over time and across various activities, 

6 which of the documents produced by that agency are 

7 vital to provide equal access for individuals with lim8 ited English proficiency and individuals with disabil9 ities served by the agency; 

10 (4) provide recommendations about how the 

11 agency can ensure that information made available 

12 by the agency or by a recipient to individuals af13 fected by an emergency is made available as soon as 

14 possible in multimodal and cross-cultural formats 

15 that can be understood by individuals with limited 

16 English proficiency and individuals with disabilities; 

17 (5) provide recommendations about how the 

18 agency can ensure that the distribution of supplies, 

19 the processing of applications, and other relief and 

20 assistance activities provided by such agency or re21 cipient during or in response to an emergency shall 

22 be accomplished in an equitable and impartial man23 ner, without discrimination on the grounds of na24 tionality, disability, or English proficiency; and 

25 (6) assist the head of the agency in— 


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1 (A) preparing, annually updating, submit2 ting to the Attorney General, and implementing 

3 the plan described in section 4(a); 

4 (B) issuing the guidance described in sec5 tion 4(d); and 

6 (C) ensuring the agency plan and agency 

7 recipient guidance is made available to the pub8 lic online in a manner that complies with sec9 tion 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 

10 U.S.C. 794d). 

11 SEC. 4. ACCESS PLAN FOR FEDERALLY CONDUCTED PRO12 GRAMS AND ACTIVITIES. 

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

14 date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 

15 shall prepare and submit to the Attorney General a plan 

16 described in subsection (b). Each agency shall ensure that 

17 such plan is consistent with the final guidance of the De18 partment of Justice entitled ‘‘Guidance to Federal Finan19 cial Assistance Recipients Regarding Title VI Prohibition 

20 Against National Origin Discrimination Affecting Limited 

21 English Proficient Persons’’ (67 Fed. Reg. 41455 (June 

22 12, 2002)), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 

23 (42 U.S.C. 12102), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act 

24 of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794), and section 1557 of the Patient 

25 Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18116). 


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1 (b) PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Each plan under sub2 section (a) shall include— 

3 (1) the steps the agency will take to ensure that 

4 individuals with limited English proficiency or indi5 viduals with disabilities have access to each service, 

6 activity, program, or benefit provided or adminis7 tered by the agency; 

8 (2) the steps the agency will take to ensure that 

9 older adults with limited English proficiency or a 

10 disability who may require the use of non-traditional 

11 modes of communication have access to each service, 

12 activity, program, or benefit provided or adminis13 tered by the agency; 

14 (3) the policies and procedures for identifying, 

15 assessing, and meeting the culturally and linguis16 tically appropriate language needs of the agency’s 

17 beneficiaries who are individuals with limited 

18 English proficiency or individuals with disabilities 

19 served by the agency; 

20 (4) the steps the agency will take to ensure that 

21 each service, activity, program, or benefit of the 

22 agency is culturally and linguistically appropriate, 

23 including providing a range of language assistance 

24 options, notice to individuals with limited English 

25 proficiency or individuals with disabilities of the 


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1 right to qualified language services and communica2 tion access, periodic training of staff, monitoring 

3 and quality assessment of the language services and, 

4 in appropriate circumstances, the translation of writ5 ten materials; 

6 (5) the steps the agency will take, with respect 

7 to each service, activity, program, or benefit of the 

8 agency, to provide reasonable accommodations nec9 essary for individuals with limited English pro10 ficiency and communication disabilities to under11 stand communications from the agency; 

12 (6) the steps the agency will take to ensure that 

13 all applications, forms, and other relevant documents 

14 for the agency’s services, activities, benefits, and 

15 programs are competently translated, interpreted, 

16 and provided in accessible formats in the primary 

17 language of a client that is an individual with lim18 ited English proficiency or an individual with disabil19 ities if such materials are needed to improve access 

20 of such client to such service, activity, benefit, or 

21 program; 

22 (7) when providing media, live broadcasting, or 

23 additional video communication for the agency’s 

24 services, activities, benefits, and programs, how the 

25 agency will ensure the use of qualified American 


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1 Sign Language interpreters with a picture-in-picture 

2 inset feature where the interpreter’s frame is at 

3 least the same size as the main speaker’s frame but 

4 no smaller than 33 percent of the screen; 

5 (8) if relevant to the agency, the resources the 

6 agency will provide to improve cultural and linguistic 

7 appropriateness and accessibility practices to assist 

8 recipients of Federal funds to improve their access 

9 to health care related programs and activities for in10 dividuals with limited English proficiency or individ11 uals with disabilities; 

12 (9) if relevant to the agency, the resources the 

13 agency will provide to ensure that accessible infor14 mation and competent communication assistance is 

15 provided to patients that are individuals with limited 

16 English proficiency or people with disabilities by 

17 qualified interpreters; and 

18 (10) the resources the agency will provide to en19 sure that minor children are not used to provide in20 terpretation services, except as permitted under reg21 ulations implementing section 1557 of the Patient 

22 Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 18116) as published in the Federal Register on May 

24 18, 2016. 


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1 (c) DOJ REVIEW.—The Attorney General shall re2 view each plan submitted in accordance with this section 

3 not later than 120 days after receipt of the plan. The At4 torney General shall also review the most recently sub5 mitted plan from each relevant agency not later than 7 

6 days after an emergency has been declared. 

7 (d) GUIDANCE FOR RECIPIENTS OF FEDERAL FI8 NANCIAL ASSISTANCE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The agency shall issue guid10 ance for recipients of Federal financial assistance 

11 under the jurisdiction of the agency in order to as12 sist such recipients in ensuring that individuals with 

13 limited English proficiency or individuals with dis14 abilities have access to each service, activity, pro15 gram, or benefit provided or administered by the re16 cipient. Such guidance shall take into account the 

17 types of services provided by the recipients and the 

18 individuals served by the recipients. 

19 (2) REVIEW AND APPROVAL.—The agency shall 

20 submit such guidance for review and approval by the 

21 Attorney General. Following approval by the Attor22 ney General, each agency shall publish its guidance 

23 document in the Federal Register for public com24 ment. 


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1 SEC. 5. CONSULTATION. 

2 (a) STAKEHOLDER INPUT.—In carrying out this Act, 

3 agencies shall ensure that stakeholders, such as individ4 uals with limited English proficiency, people with disabil5 ities, and their representative organizations, recipients, 

6 and other appropriate individuals or entities, have an ade7 quate opportunity to provide meaningful input. 

8 (b) EVALUATION OF AGENCY CIRCUMSTANCES.— 

9 Each agency shall evaluate the particular needs of the in10 dividuals with limited English proficiency and people with 

11 disabilities that the agency and the recipients of the agen12 cy serve and the burdens of compliance on the agency and 

13 its recipients. 

14 (c) INPUT.—Each agency shall take into account 

15 such input from stakeholders in developing an approach 

16 to ensuring meaningful access by individuals with limited 

17 English proficiency and people with disabilities that is 

18 practical and effective, fiscally responsible, responsive to 

19 the particular circumstances of each agency, and can be 

20 readily implemented. 

Æ 


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