MEANINGFUL LANG. ACCESS ACT; ENACT H.B. 4720 (H-2):
SUMMARY OF HOUSE-PASSED BILL
IN COMMITTEE
House Bill 4720 (Substitute H-2 as passed by the House)
Sponsor: Representative Ranjeev Puri
House Committee: Government Operations
Senate Committee: Committee of the Whole
CONTENT
The bill would enact the "Statewide Meaningful Language Access Coordination Act" to specify the duties of the Office of Global Michigan under Senate Bill 382 (H-1) and create a complaint process in collaboration with the Department of Civil Rights for individuals who believed they had been denied full access to a covered entity or discriminated against because of their national origin.
The bill is tie-barred to Senate Bill 382, which would enact the Meaningful Language Access to State Services Act to require State departments, agencies, or entities (covered entity) to take specific measures to provide meaningful language access to State services for individuals with limited English proficiency.
Under the Act, the Office of Global Michigan would have to do the following:
-- Coordinate steps taken by covered entities throughout the State to provide meaningful language access to public services under the Meaningful Language Access to State Services Act.
-- Designate at least one language access liaison to work with covered entities to train staff, develop resources, conduct outreach activities that informed the public of available language services, and facilitate compliance with the Meaningful Language Access to State Services Act.
-- Create a complaint form and process for members of the public to use to report and pursue a remedy of instances of noncompliance with the Meaningful Language Access to State Services Act.
-- In collaboration with the Department of Civil Rights, and consistent with the Section 602 of the Eliot-Larson Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), create a complaint process under which individuals who believed that they had been denied full and equal access to a covered entity because of their national origin could submit a complaint and seek a remedy against a covered entity.
(Section 602 of the ELCRA specifies that the Department must provide representation in legal matters and handle complaints that violate the ELCRA, which generally prohibits discrimination.)
The bill would specify that the complaint form would be subject to the translation requirements described under the Meaningful Language Access to State Services Act. Additionally, an individual who believed that the individual was denied full and equal access to a covered entity because of their national origin would have the right to separately seek a remedy with the Department of Civil Rights as through the complaint process described above.
PREVIOUS LEGISLATION
(This section does not provide a comprehensive account of previous legislative efforts on this subject matter.)
The bill is a companion bill of Senate Bill 383 from the current Legislative Session.
Legislative Analyst: Tyler P. VanHuyse
FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a fiscal impact on the Office of Global Michigan and would have no fiscal impact on local units of government. The Office of Global Michigan would likely need to hire additional staff and would likely have additional administration costs to provide a liaison and training to each covered entity. The costs would depend on how much training would be needed for each covered entity and if a liaison could cover multiple entities. For Fiscal Year 2023-24, the Office of Global Michigan was appropriated 15.0 full-time equivalents and $39.9 million.
Fiscal Analyst: Cory Savino, PhD
Michael Siracuse
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.