White House Accountability for Language Diversity Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4809 To require the White House and each agency to provide an official website in the five most commonly used languages in the United States other than English as determined by the Census data and any other languages determined to be appropriate by the Director of the Office of Manage- ment and Budget, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 23, 2019 Mr. CORREA (for himself, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. COSTA, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. ESCOBAR, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Mr. BLU- MENAUER, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. CISNEROS, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. PORTER, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. FOSTER, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. SOTO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TAKANO, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. TITUS, and Mr. ESPAILLAT) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Over- sight and Reform A BILL To require the White House and each agency to provide an official website in the five most commonly used lan- guages in the United States other than English as deter- mined by the Census data and any other languages de- termined to be appropriate by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H4809.IH H4809 snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4809 IH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘White House Account- 4 ability for Language Diversity Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) In the past decades it has become standard 8 practice to publish versions of the White House and 9 other agency websites in Spanish. 10 (2) At least 36,000,000 United States residents 11 who speak Spanish as their first language depend 12 upon these websites to access important information 13 that can play a critical role in their life. 14 (3) In 2010, for 59,000,000 people, English 15 was not their first language. 16 (4) In addition to English, the top languages in 17 the United States are Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, 18 Vietnamese, and French. 19 (5) Millions of people within the United States 20 will benefit by having websites translated into mul- 21 tiple languages. 22 (6) The United States of America is a diverse 23 Nation and, as such, does not have an official lan- 24 guage. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4809.IH H4809 snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4809 IH (7) Since our founding, our country has been in 1 a constant state of growth. We have consistently 2 grown more multilingual because of people from 3 across the world seeking a better future while car- 4 rying a hope of achieving the American dream. 5 (8) As this is happening, the United States 6 must adapt and make our democracy more accessible 7 for everyone. 8 SEC. 3. PURPOSE. 9 The purpose of this Act is to— 10 (1) require the White House and agencies to 11 provide resources in multiple languages so that peo- 12 ple can read information in the language they are 13 most comfortable with; and 14 (2) acknowledge the diversity of our country 15 and use creative solutions to make sure that there 16 is equity in accessing information from our govern- 17 ment. 18 SEC. 4. FIVE MOST COMMONLY USED LANGUAGE WEBSITES 19 REQUIRED. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 21 date of the enactment of this Act, the White House and 22 the head of each agency shall establish an official website 23 in the five most commonly used languages in the United 24 States other than English as determined by the Census 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4809.IH H4809 snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4809 IH data and any other language determined to be appropriate 1 by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget 2 to increase accessibility to everyone residing in the United 3 States. Any such website may only include official content 4 and is not required to translate external websites that are 5 not official content. Any website in a language other than 6 English shall be substantially similar in design and scope 7 of content to the English version. 8 (b) LINK ON MAIN PAGE.—A link to the website re- 9 quired under subsection (a) shall be easily accessible and 10 in plain view on the main page of the English version of 11 the White House and agency website. The link shall be 12 in the language of that website. 13 (c) MAINTENANCE OF WEBSITE.—The President and 14 the head of each agency shall maintain and update the 15 website required under subsection (a) on a regular basis. 16 (d) AGENCY DEFINED.—The term ‘‘agency’’ has the 17 meaning given that term in section 551 of title 5, United 18 States Code. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:56 Oct 29, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4809.IH H4809 snicholson on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS