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117TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION H. R. 1009
To require all Federal agencies to translate COVID–19 materials into multiple
languages, and for other purposes.
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. BARRAGA´N, Mr. CASE, Mr. LIEU, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr.
GRIJALVA, Mr. GOMEZ, Ms. PORTER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. KILMER,
Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. CASTOR
of Florida, Ms.
SA´NCHEZ, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. PRICE of
North Carolina, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr.
LOWENTHAL, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. SIRES, Mr. GARCI´A 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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over-
sight and Reform
A BILL
To require all Federal agencies to translate COVID–19
materials into multiple languages, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
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tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
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This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Language
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Access Act’’.
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•HR 1009 IH
SEC. 2. TRANSLATION OF MATERIALS.
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(a) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agency that receives
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Federal assistance related to the COVID–19 pandemic
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shall translate any English language written material pre-
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pared for the general public relating to such pandemic,
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including COVID–19 vaccine distribution and education,
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into the languages described in subsection (b) not later
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than 7 days after any such material is made available in
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English.
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(b) LANGUAGES COVERED.—The material described
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in subsection (a) shall be translated, at a minimum, into
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Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole,
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French, Hindi, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lao-
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tian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish,
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Thai, and Portuguese.
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(c) DEFINITION OF COVID–19 PANDEMIC.—In this
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section, the term ‘‘COVID–19 pandemic’’ means the pub-
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lic health emergency declared by the Secretary pursuant
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to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act on Janu-
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ary 31, 2020, entitled ‘‘Determination that a Public
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Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the
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2019 Novel Coronavirus’’.
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Æ
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