Bill Text: NY A00754 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Requires the office of court administration to collect and maintain data on limited English proficient litigants in the state; requires such information be publicly available.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 17-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-12-12 - signed chap.621 [A00754 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A00754-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           754
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 10, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. JOYNER, ORTIZ, GOTTFRIED, SIMON, BARRON, D'URSO,
          JAFFEE, COLTON, PERRY -- read once and referred to  the  Committee  on
          Judiciary
        AN  ACT  to amend the judiciary law, in relation to requiring the office
          of court administration  to  collect  and  maintain  data  on  limited
          English proficient litigants in the state
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The judiciary law is amended by adding a new section 391 to
     2  read as follows:
     3    § 391. Limited English proficient litigants' data. 1. For the purposes
     4  of this section, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
     5    (a) "primary language"  means  the  dominant  language  an  individual
     6  speaks  in everyday situations, including but not limited to their home,
     7  work, school, and community environments;
     8    (b) "limited English proficient (LEP) individual" means a  participant
     9  in  a legal proceeding, whose limited ability to speak or understand the
    10  English language, has created a communications barrier to  understanding
    11  his  or  her  legal  rights or impairs his or her ability to participate
    12  fully in court programs or services;
    13    (c) "language assistance services" means  oral  and  written  services
    14  needed  to  assist LEP individuals to communicate effectively with court
    15  personnel and to provide LEP individuals with meaningful access to,  and
    16  an  equal  opportunity  to  participate  fully  in,  court  programs  or
    17  services, so that LEP individuals are placed in  the  same  position  as
    18  similarly situated persons for whom there is no such barrier; and
    19    (d)  "translation  services"  means interpreting the words used by the
    20  judge, parties and relevant participants  in  a  legal  proceeding  from
    21  English  into  an LEP individual's primary language and interpreting the
    22  words used by the LEP individual back to English.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00094-01-9
        A. 754                              2
     1    2. The office of court administration shall collect and maintain  data
     2  on  all  limited  English  proficient  individuals  who are litigants in
     3  courts within this state.  At a minimum, the office  of  court  adminis-
     4  tration shall collect and maintain data on the following:
     5    (a) the number of limited English proficient individuals who are liti-
     6  gants  in  courts  within this state, disaggregated by court and county,
     7  and the primary language of such individuals;
     8    (b) the number of such limited English proficient individuals actually
     9  served, disaggregated by court and county, the type of language  assist-
    10  ance  services  provided  and  the  primary  language  of the individual
    11  served; and
    12    (c) the number of interpreter personnel employed by the courts, disag-
    13  gregated by court and county and the language translated or  interpreted
    14  by such personnel.
    15    3.  The office of court administration shall make the data required by
    16  this section publicly available on its website, provided, however,  that
    17  such  data shall not include identifying information and nothing in this
    18  section shall be construed to permit the office of court  administration
    19  to use, disseminate, or publish any identifying information including an
    20  individual's name, date of birth, social security number, docket number,
    21  or other unique identifier.
    22    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    23  it shall have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediate-
    24  ly,  the  addition,  amendment  and/or  repeal of any rule or regulation
    25  necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective  date  are
    26  authorized  and  directed  to  be  made  and completed on or before such
    27  effective date.