Full Text of HB1013 095th General Assembly
HB1013 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2007 and 2008 HB1013
Introduced 2/8/2007, by Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
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Creates the Access to Governmental Services Act. Provides that each State agency, constitutional officer, State program, and circuit clerk shall take reasonable steps to
provide equal access to public services for individuals with
limited English proficiency. Provides that such reasonable steps include (1) having a sufficient number of qualified bilingual
persons in public contact positions or as interpreters and (2) translating important documents ordinarily
provided to the public into any language spoken by any
limited-English-proficient population that constitutes at
least a certain percentage of the population served. Requires the Illinois Human Rights Commission to implement a
process to address disputes arising under the Act. Creates the State Language Assistance/Translator Services Clearinghouse within the Department of Central Management Services to assist in preparing, review, and approve, as to language-appropriateness, materials distributed to the public by State agencies and policy and procedure manuals used by State agencies in delivering services to the public. Amends the Language Assistance Services Act. Provides that a health facility (i) must adopt and review annually a policy for providing language assistance services and (ii) must provide its nonbilingual staff with standardized picture and phrase sheets (instead of having those 2 activities as options). Provides that a health facility must also do at least one of the remaining 7 specified activities (instead of must do one or more of 9 specified activities).
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A BILL FOR
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HB1013 |
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LRB095 08234 DRJ 29636 b |
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| AN ACT concerning government.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Access | 5 |
| to Governmental Services Act. | 6 |
| Section 5. Definitions.
In this Act: | 7 |
| "Equal access" means to be informed of, participate in, and
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| benefit from public services offered by a State agency, circuit
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| court, constitutional office, or State program at a level
equal | 10 |
| to individuals who do not have limited English
proficiency. | 11 |
| "Important documents" means application or informational
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| materials, websites, notices, and complaint forms offered by
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| State agencies, constitutional officers, circuit court clerks,
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| and State programs, as defined by rule by the appropriate State
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| agency, constitutional officer, circuit court clerk, or State
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| program. "Important documents" does not include
applications | 17 |
| and examinations related to the
licensure, certification, or | 18 |
| registration of businesses and
professionals. | 19 |
| "Limited English proficiency" means: | 20 |
| (1) indicated on
the U.S. Census as speaking a language | 21 |
| other than English and
speaking English "not well" or "not | 22 |
| at all"; or | 23 |
| (2) the inability to
adequately understand or express |
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HB1013 |
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| oneself in the spoken or
written English language.
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| "State program" means any program administered by a State
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| agency, but does not include any program administered, in whole
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| or in part, by a unit of local government or a school district,
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| regardless of whether State funds are expended under the
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| program. | 7 |
| "Sufficient number of qualified bilingual persons in
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| public contact positions" means the number of qualified
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| bilingual persons required in order to provide the same level
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| of service to non-English-speaking persons as is available to
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| English-speaking persons seeking the same service.
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| Section 10. Language access required; State agencies, | 13 |
| officers, and programs. | 14 |
| (a) Each State agency, constitutional officer, and State | 15 |
| program shall take reasonable steps to
provide equal access to | 16 |
| public services for individuals with
limited English | 17 |
| proficiency. Those reasonable steps to provide equal access to | 18 |
| public
services include, but are not limited to, the following: | 19 |
| (1) Having a sufficient number of qualified bilingual
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| persons in public contact positions or as interpreters to
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| assist persons in public contact positions in providing
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| services to individuals with limited English proficiency
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| when there is a documented substantial need due to the | 24 |
| nature or extent of contact
between a State agency, | 25 |
| constitutional officer, or State program and individuals |
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HB1013 |
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| with limited
English proficiency. | 2 |
| (2) Translating important documents ordinarily
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| provided to the public into any language spoken by any
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| limited-English-proficient population that constitutes at
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| least 3% of the overall population of the State, as | 6 |
| measured
by the U.S. Census.
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| (b) Nothing in this Act requires an executive branch State
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| agency to establish an office in a county where it would not
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| otherwise maintain an office. | 10 |
| Section 15. Language access required; circuit clerks. Each | 11 |
| circuit court clerk shall take reasonable steps to
provide | 12 |
| equal access to public services for individuals with
limited | 13 |
| English proficiency. Those reasonable steps to provide equal | 14 |
| access to public
services include, but are not limited to, the | 15 |
| following: | 16 |
| (1) Having a sufficient number of qualified bilingual
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| persons in public contact positions or as interpreters to
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| assist persons in public contact positions in providing
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| services to individuals with limited English proficiency
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| when there is a documented substantial need due to the | 21 |
| nature or extent of contact
between the circuit
court clerk | 22 |
| and individuals with limited
English proficiency. | 23 |
| (2) Translating important documents ordinarily
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| provided to the public into any language spoken by any
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| limited-English-proficient population that constitutes |
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| more than 5% of all residents of the county in which the | 2 |
| circuit clerk serves, as measured
by the U.S. Census. | 3 |
| Section 20. Rules. Each State agency, constitutional | 4 |
| officer, circuit
court clerk, and State program shall adopt | 5 |
| rules regarding the
requirements of this Act not less than 6 | 6 |
| months after the
effective date of this Act, or as soon | 7 |
| thereafter as
possible. | 8 |
| Section 25. Disputes; Illinois Human Rights Commission. | 9 |
| The Illinois Human Rights Commission shall implement a
process | 10 |
| to address disputes arising under this Act, including,
but not | 11 |
| limited to, disputes concerning the interpretation of
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| "important documents" and "sufficient number of qualified
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| bilingual persons in public contact positions" and agency
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| determinations of the offices where the services are provided. | 15 |
| The Commission shall implement this process
not less than 6 | 16 |
| months after the effective date of this Act, or as soon | 17 |
| thereafter as possible. | 18 |
| Section 30. State Language Assistance/Translator Services | 19 |
| Clearinghouse. The State Language Assistance/Translator | 20 |
| Services Clearinghouse is created within the Department of | 21 |
| Central Management Services to assist in preparing, review, and | 22 |
| approve, as to language-appropriateness, brochures and other | 23 |
| materials distributed to the public by State agencies and |
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| policy and procedure manuals used by State agencies in | 2 |
| delivering services to the public. The purpose of the | 3 |
| clearinghouse is to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of | 4 |
| such materials and manuals.
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| Section 90. The Language Assistance Services Act is amended | 6 |
| by changing Section 15 as follows:
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| (210 ILCS 87/15)
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| Sec. 15. Language assistance services. To insure access to
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| health care information and services for
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| limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking residents and | 11 |
| deaf residents,
a health facility must do both
one or more of | 12 |
| the following:
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| (1) Adopt and review annually a policy for providing | 14 |
| language assistance
services to patients with language or | 15 |
| communication barriers. The policy shall
include | 16 |
| procedures for providing, to the extent possible as | 17 |
| determined by the
facility, the use of an interpreter | 18 |
| whenever a language or communication
barrier
exists, | 19 |
| except where the patient, after being informed of the | 20 |
| availability of
the interpreter service, chooses to use a | 21 |
| family member or friend who
volunteers to interpret. The | 22 |
| procedures shall be designed to maximize
efficient use of | 23 |
| interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters | 24 |
| to
patients. The procedures shall insure, to the extent |
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| possible as determined
by the facility, that
interpreters | 2 |
| are available, either on the premises or accessible by | 3 |
| telephone,
24 hours a day. The facility shall annually | 4 |
| transmit to the Department of
Public Health a
copy of the | 5 |
| updated policy and shall include a description of the | 6 |
| facility's
efforts to
insure adequate and speedy | 7 |
| communication between patients with language or
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| communication barriers and staff.
Review existing policies | 9 |
| regarding interpreters for patients with
limited English | 10 |
| proficiency and for patients who are deaf, including the
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| availability of staff to act as interpreters.
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| (2) Provide its nonbilingual staff with standardized | 13 |
| picture and
phrase sheets for use in routine communications | 14 |
| with patients who have language
or communication barriers.
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| Adopt and review annually a policy for providing language | 16 |
| assistance
services to patients with language or | 17 |
| communication barriers. The policy shall
include | 18 |
| procedures for providing, to the extent possible as | 19 |
| determined by the
facility, the use of an interpreter | 20 |
| whenever a language or communication
barrier
exists, | 21 |
| except where the patient, after being informed of the | 22 |
| availability of
the interpreter service, chooses to use a | 23 |
| family member or friend who
volunteers to interpret. The | 24 |
| procedures shall be designed to maximize
efficient use of | 25 |
| interpreters and minimize delays in providing interpreters | 26 |
| to
patients. The procedures shall insure, to the extent |
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HB1013 |
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LRB095 08234 DRJ 29636 b |
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| possible as determined
by the facility, that
interpreters | 2 |
| are available, either on the premises or accessible by | 3 |
| telephone,
24 hours a day. The facility shall annually | 4 |
| transmit to the Department of
Public Health a
copy of the | 5 |
| updated policy and shall include a description of the | 6 |
| facility's
efforts to
insure adequate and speedy | 7 |
| communication between patients with language or
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| communication barriers and staff.
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| In addition, a health facility must do at least one of the | 10 |
| following:
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| (A) Review existing policies regarding interpreters | 12 |
| for patients with
limited English proficiency and for | 13 |
| patients who are deaf, including the
availability of staff | 14 |
| to act as interpreters.
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| (B)
(3) Develop, and post in conspicuous locations, | 16 |
| notices that advise patients
and their families of the | 17 |
| availability of interpreters, the procedure for
obtaining | 18 |
| an interpreter, and the telephone numbers to call for | 19 |
| filing
complaints concerning interpreter service problems, | 20 |
| including, but not limited
to, a
T.D.D. number for the | 21 |
| hearing impaired. The notices shall be posted, at a
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| minimum, in the emergency room, the admitting area, the | 23 |
| facility entrance, and
the
outpatient area. Notices shall | 24 |
| inform patients that interpreter services are
available on | 25 |
| request, shall list the languages for which interpreter | 26 |
| services
are available, and shall instruct patients to |
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HB1013 |
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| direct complaints regarding
interpreter services to the | 2 |
| Department of Public Health, including the
telephone
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| numbers to call for that purpose.
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| (C)
(4) Identify and record a patient's primary | 5 |
| language and dialect on one or
more of the following: a | 6 |
| patient medical chart, hospital bracelet,
bedside notice, | 7 |
| or nursing card.
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| (D)
(5) Prepare and maintain, as needed, a list of | 9 |
| interpreters who have
been identified as proficient in sign | 10 |
| language and in the languages of the
population of the | 11 |
| geographical area served by the facility who have the
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| ability to translate
the names of body parts, injuries, and | 13 |
| symptoms.
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| (E)
(6) Notify the facility's employees of the | 15 |
| facility's commitment to provide
interpreters to
all | 16 |
| patients who request them.
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| (F)
(7) Review all standardized written forms, | 18 |
| waivers, documents, and
informational materials available | 19 |
| to patients on admission to determine which
to translate | 20 |
| into languages other than English.
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| (8) Consider providing its nonbilingual staff with | 22 |
| standardized picture and
phrase sheets for use in routine | 23 |
| communications with patients who have language
or | 24 |
| communication barriers.
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| (G)
(9) Develop community liaison groups to enable the | 26 |
| facility and the
limited-English-speaking, |
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HB1013 |
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LRB095 08234 DRJ 29636 b |
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| non-English-speaking, and deaf communities to insure
the | 2 |
| adequacy of the
interpreter services.
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| (Source: P.A. 93-564, eff. 1-1-04.)
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