S-1682               _______________________________________________

                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 6035

                        _______________________________________________

State of Washington                              50th Legislature                              1987 Regular Session

By Senators Kreidler and Warnke

Read first time 3/2/87 and referred to Committee on Commerce & Labor.

AN ACT Relating to bilingual services; and adding a new section to chapter 50.12 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 50.12 RCW to read as follows:

          (1) The department and the office of administrative hearings shall insure that bilingual services are provided to non-English speaking applicants and recipients.  The services shall be provided to the extent necessary to assure that non-English speaking persons are not denied, or unable to obtain or maintain, services or benefits because of their inability to speak English.

          (2) If the number of non-English speaking applicants or recipients sharing the same language served by any job service center client contact job classification equals or exceeds fifty percent of the average caseload of a full-time position in such classification, the department shall, through attrition, employ bilingual personnel to serve such applicants or recipients.

          (3) Regardless of the applicant or recipient caseload of any job service center, each job service center shall ensure that bilingual services required to supplement the job service center staff are provided through contracts with interpreters, local agencies, or other community resources.

          (4) Initial client contact materials shall inform clients in all primary languages of the availability of interpretation services for non-English speaking persons.  Basic informational pamphlets shall be translated into all primary languages.

          (5) To the extent all written communications directed to applicants or recipients are not in the primary language of the applicant or recipient, the department and the office of administrative hearings shall include with the written communication a notice in all primary languages of applicants or recipients describing the significance of the communication and specifically how the applicants or recipients may receive assistance in understanding, and responding to if necessary, the written communication.  The department shall assure that sufficient resources are available to assist applicants and recipients in a timely fashion with understanding, responding to, and complying with the requirements of all such written communications.

          (6) As used in this section, "primary languages" includes but is not limited to Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Chinese.

          (7) The department shall report to the legislature by July 1, 1988, on the cost-effectiveness of translating all written forms, notices, and other documents provided to non-English speaking applicants or recipients into primary languages.