Int. No. 697-A
By Council Members Ung, Hanif, Hudson, Sanchez, Louis, Won, Gutiérrez, Velázquez, Narcisse, Menin, Brannan, Lee, Avilés, Cabán, Ossé, Rivera and Gennaro
A Local Law to amend the New York city charter and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to providing supplemental language access services in connection with temporary language needs
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph 5 of subdivision c of section 15 of the New York city charter is amended by adding a new subparagraph (vii) to read as follows:
(vii) any languages identified pursuant to section 23-1105 of the code, as well as the circumstances and duration of the global event, occurrence, trend or pattern that required the identification of such languages.
§ 2. Paragraph 5 of subdivision b of section 23-1102 of the administrative code of the city of New York, as added by local law number 30 for the year 2017, is amended to read as follows:
5. incorporate planning to address language access needs in the agency’s emergency preparedness and response, including (i) planning to address a sudden increase in the need for language access services in a language other than a designated citywide language, such as an increase due to an emergency within the city of New York that disproportionately impacts speakers of a particular language; and (ii) listing the types of materials that such agency may disseminate in an emergency;
§ 3. Chapter 11 of title 23 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 23-1105 to read as follows:
§ 23-1105 Temporary languages. a. The office of the language services coordinator, upon being informed by any relevant agency of a global event, occurrence, trend or pattern that leads to, is likely to lead to, or has led to a significant number of similarly situated individuals whose primary language is not English arriving in the city and seeking city services including shelter, food, or other urgent assistance, shall seek to identify the primary languages spoken by such similarly situated individuals. The office of the language services coordinator shall maintain a publicly available website listing such identified languages.
b. An agency that provides such services to such individuals shall translate relevant documents and other materials into such identified languages and make interpretation services available for such identified languages.
c. Any city website providing information regarding services available to such individuals shall include translations of relevant documents in such identified languages, to the extent practicable.
d. Any temporary location maintained by an agency for the purpose of providing a service to such individuals shall post signage in such identified languages about the availability of interpretation services.
§ 4. This local law takes effect 120 days after it becomes law, provided that nothing in this local law shall require a covered agency to update its language access implementation plan sooner than would be required by subdivision d of section 23-1102 of the administrative code of the city of New York.
JG/DS/cjm
LS #9151
12/09/2022_10:30am