De La Fuente said the city's goal eventually is to hire certified translators and set up its own translation office. Neither Oakland's nor San Francisco's proposal includes a hard number for how many vacancies must be filled with bilingual speakers. The San Francisco ordinance, which was proposed two years ago only to fizzle, is more of a work in progress than Oakland's. They are waiting for the 2000 census results to tell them the current number of limited-English speakers. In the 1999 profile, more than 43,000 Spanish speakers are described as having poor English skills.
State law requires that state and local agencies provide bilingual services.
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