COVID–19 Language Access Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6623 To require all Federal agencies to translate COVID–19 materials into multiple languages, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 24, 2020 Ms. MENG (for herself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PRICE of North Caro- lina, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. RUSH, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mr. MEEKS, Ms. JOHN- SON of Texas, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. CAS- TOR of Florida, Ms. SHALALA, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. KILMER, Mr. SERRANO, Ms. JAYAPAL, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illi- nois, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. CA´RDENAS, 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 Com- mittee on Oversight 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- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Language 4 Access Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Apr 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6623.IH H6623 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6623 IH SEC. 2. TRANSLATION OF MATERIALS. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each Federal agency that receives 2 Federal assistance related to the COVID–19 pandemic 3 shall translate any English language written material pre- 4 pared for the general public relating to such pandemic into 5 the languages described in subsection (b) not later than 6 7 days after any such material is made available in 7 English. 8 (b) LANGUAGES COVERED.—The material described 9 in subsection (a) shall be translated, at a minimum, into 10 Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, 11 French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Rus- 12 sian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and 13 Portuguese. 14 (c) DEFINITION OF COVID–19 PANDEMIC.—In this 15 section, the term ‘‘COVID–19 pandemic’’ means the pub- 16 lic health emergency declared by the Secretary pursuant 17 to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act on Janu- 18 ary 31, 2020, entitled ‘‘Determination that a Public 19 Health Emergency Exists Nationwide as the Result of the 20 2019 Novel Coronavirus’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:49 Apr 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6623.IH H6623 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS