SENATE BILL REPORT

SB 6035

BYSenators Kreidler and Warnke

Requiring bilingual unemployment services.

Senate Committee on Commerce & Labor

Senate Hearing Date(s):March 2, 1987

Majority Report:  Do pass and refer to Committee on Ways & Means.

      Signed by Senators Warnke, Smitherman, Tanner, Vognild, Williams, Wojahn.

Senate Staff:Bill Lynch (786-7427)

                  March 3, 1987

AS REPORTED BY COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE & LABOR, MARCH 2, 1987

BACKGROUND:

Public assistance recipients and applicants are provided bilingual services by the Department of Social and Health Services and the Office of Administrative Hearings.  The Legislature stated, when adopting this requirement in 1983, that persons should not be denied public assistance benefits because of their inability to speak English.

Bilingual assistance must be available from an employee when the number of non-English speaking applicants or recipients sharing the same language served by a community service office equals or exceeds 50 percent of the average caseload of a full-time position.  The Department must contract with interpreters and local resources when necessary to supplement the community service office staff.  Initial client contact materials must be printed in Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Chinese to inform people about the availability of interpretation services.

Many public assistance recipients must participate in employment programs operated by the Department of Employment Security.  Bilingual assistance is not required for Employment Security programs, even if a client was receiving this help for public assistance.  A person can be terminated from an Employment Security program because of an inability to speak English, which in turn disqualifies a person from public assistance.

It is suggested that bilingual assistance should be available for persons participating in Employment Security programs.

SUMMARY:

The same statutory requirements of bilingual assistance for public assistance clients are extended to job service center clients.

The Department of Employment Security and the Office of Administrative Hearings are directed to insure that bilingual services are provided to non-English speaking applicants and recipients.

Bilingual assistance must be available from an employee when the number of non-English speaking applicants or recipients sharing the same language served by any job service center equals or exceeds 50 percent of the average caseload of a full-time position.  The Department must, through attrition, employ bilingual personnel to serve such clients.  The Department must contract with interpreters and local resources to supplement the job service center staff when necessary.

Initial client contact materials must be printed in Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, and Chinese to inform people about the availability of interpretive services.  The Department of Employment Security must report to the Legislature by July 1, 1988, on the cost-effectiveness of translating all written forms, notices, and other documents into primary languages.

Fiscal Note:      requested

Senate Committee - Testified: Senator Kreidler; Rebecca Smith, Evergreen Legal Services; Hector Gonzalez, Mexican-American Affairs Commission; Graeme Sackrison, Employment Security