HB1049:

Administration of government; language access equity, report.

Bill Summary:

Administration of government; language access
equity; report. Establishes the Interagency Language Access Working
Group in the Office of the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
with the following membership: the Director of Diversity, Equity,
and Inclusion, the Director of the Office of the Children's Ombudsman,
the Governor's Secretaries, and six nonlegislative citizen members
representing organizations that represent individuals with language
access needs. The Working Group is established for the purpose of
maximizing state policies, resources, technical assistance, and procurement
practices to further language access and equity in the Commonwealth
and its state government agencies. The bill also requires each state
agency to designate a language access coordinator who will be responsible
for the agency's annual language access report, the requirements of
which are set out in the bill. The Secretary of Administration is
directed to establish criteria for state agencies to procure language
interpretation and translation services and to establish a policy
for compensating multilingual state employees who are required as
part of their job to provide interpretation, translation, or other
bilingual skills at least once a month.