COVID–19 Language Access Act

Bill: 117-hr-1009
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Meng, Grace [D-NY-6]
Introduced: 2021-02-11
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

Health promotion and preventive care

Immunology and vaccination

Infectious and parasitic diseases
Latest action: action_date: 2021-02-11
text: Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-02-11
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, including COVID-19 vaccine distribution and education, 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, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and Portuguese. </p>

tv_txt: I 117th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1009 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES February 11, 2021 Ms. Meng (for herself, Ms. Clarke of New York , Mr. Green of Texas , Ms. Schakowsky , Ms. Lee of California , Mr. Espaillat , Ms. Blunt Rochester , Ms. Barragán , Mr. Case , Mr. Lieu , Ms. Velázquez , Mr. Grijalva , Mr. Gomez , Ms. Porter , Ms. Roybal-Allard , Mr. Kilmer , Mrs. Napolitano , Ms. Pressley , Ms. Castor of Florida , Ms. Sánchez , Mr. Horsford , Ms. Eshoo , Mrs. Hayes , Mr. Price of North Carolina , Mr. Cárdenas , Mr. McNerney , Ms. Strickland , Mr. Lowenthal , Mr. Hastings , Mr. Sires , Mr. García of Illinois , Mr. Carson , Ms. Jackson Lee , Ms. Newman , Ms. Jayapal , Mr. Brendan F. Boyle of Pennsylvania , Mr. Torres of New York , Ms. Johnson of Texas , Mr. Higgins of New York , Mr. Evans , and Mr. Meeks ) 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, including COVID–19 vaccine distribution and education, 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, Hmong, 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 .