I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1414 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to end speculation on the current 
cost of multilingual services provided by the Government, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 10, 2009 
Ms. FOXX (for herself, Mr. JONES, Mr. PAUL, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. AKIN, 
and Mr. BILBRAY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 
A BILL 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to end speculation 
on the current cost of multilingual services provided by 
the Government, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Multilingual Services 
Accounting Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 
The purposes of this Act are— 
(1) to create a new appendix within each agen-
cy’s annual performance and accountability report 
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detailing any cost associated with providing multi-
lingual services, such as verbal, written, or other 
services in languages other than English; 
(2) to end speculation on the current cost of 
providing multilingual services; 
(3) to provide for more transparency in the 
Government’s accounting practices, and to determine 
the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and 
procedures; and 
(4) to provide for more accountability with the 
use of taxpayer money. 
SEC. 3. MULTILINGUAL SERVICES ACCOUNTING INFORMA-
TION REQUIREMENT. 
(a) MULTILINGUAL SERVICES ACCOUNTING INFOR-
MATION.—Chapter 9 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended— 
(1) in section 902(a)(6)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (D); 
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as 
subparagraph (F); and 
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (D) 
the following: 
‘‘(E) effective for each of the fiscal years 
beginning on or after October 1, 2010, the mul-
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tilingual services accounting information of the 
agency for such fiscal year in accordance with 
the guidance issued under section 3517 of this 
title and the procedures of OMB Circular No. 
A–11, part 6 (as in effect on the date of the en-
actment of this subparagraph) and OMB Cir-
cular No. A–136 (as in effect on the date of the 
enactment of this subparagraph); and’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘§ 904. Definitions. 
‘‘In this chapter— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘multilingual services’ includes— 
‘‘(A) the services provided by interpreters 
hired by an agency; 
‘‘(B) the services provided by an agency 
associated with assisting agency employees or 
contractors learn a language other than English 
that result in additional expenses, wages, or sal-
aries, or changes to expenses, wages, or sala-
ries, for the agency or agency employees or con-
tractors; 
‘‘(C) 
agency 
preparation, 
translation, 
printing, or recordation of documents, records, 
websites, brochures, pamphlets, flyers, or other 
materials in a language other than English; 
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‘‘(D) the services provided or performed 
for the Federal Government by agency employ-
ees or contractors that require speaking a lan-
guage other than English that result in wage 
differentials or benefits provided by the agency; 
and 
‘‘(E) any other services provided or per-
formed by an agency which utilize languages 
other than English and that incur additional 
costs to the agency; and 
‘‘(2) the term ‘multilingual services accounting 
information’ means any accounting information re-
lated to multilingual services.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions at the beginning of chapter 9 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating 
to section 903 the following: 
‘‘904. Definitions.’’. 
SEC. 4. MULTILINGUAL SERVICES EXPENSES REPORT. 
(a) MULTILINGUAL SERVICES EXPENSES REPORT.— 
Subchapter II of chapter 35 of title 31, United States 
Code is amended— 
(1) in section 3512(a)(2)— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-
paragraph (E); 
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