COVID–19 Language Access Act

Bill: 116-hr-6623
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Meng, Grace [D-NY-6]
Introduced: 2020-04-24
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Cardiovascular and respiratory health

Emergency medical services and trauma care

Executive agency funding and structure

Foreign language and bilingual programs

Government information and archives

Infectious and parasitic diseases
Latest action: action_date: 2020-04-28
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR E403)

Summaries:
action_date: 2020-04-24
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>COVID-19 Language Access Act</b></p> <p>This bill requires each federal agency that receives federal assistance related to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic to translate any English language written material prepared for the general public relating to the pandemic into specified languages not later than seven days after such material is made available in English. </p> <p>Such languages shall include, at a minimum, the following: Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and Portuguese. </p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 6623 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 24, 2020 Ms. Meng (for herself, Mrs. Watson Coleman , Mr. Price of North Carolina , Ms. Garcia of Texas , Ms. Schakowsky , Mr. Gonzalez of Texas , Mrs. Hayes , Mr. Rush , Mr. García of Illinois , Mr. Meeks , Ms. Johnson of Texas , Mr. Huffman , Ms. Norton , Mr. Espaillat , Ms. Castor of Florida , Ms. Shalala , Mr. Carson of Indiana , Mr. Kilmer , Mr. Serrano , Ms. Jayapal , Ms. Pressley , Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois , Ms. Velázquez , Mr. Cárdenas , Mr. Grijalva , Mr. McNerney , Mr. Hastings , Mr. Johnson of Georgia , Mr. Gomez , Mr. Takano , Ms. Lee of California , Mr. Horsford , Ms. Porter , Mr. Case , and Ms. Eshoo ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform A BILL To require all Federal agencies to translate COVID–19 materials into multiple languages, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the COVID–19 Language Access Act . 2. Translation of materials (a) In general Each Federal agency that receives Federal assistance related to the COVID–19 pandemic shall translate any English language written material prepared for the general public relating to such pandemic into the languages described in subsection (b) not later than 7 days after any such material is made available in English. (b) Languages covered The material described in subsection (a) shall be translated, at a minimum, into Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and Portuguese. (c) Definition of COVID–19 pandemic In this section, the term COVID–19 pandemic means the public health emergency declared by the Secretary pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act on January 31, 2020, entitled Determination that a Public Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus .