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Regular Session, 2010
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 110
BY REPRESENTATIVE LAFONTA AND SENATOR MURRAY
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To urge and request the executive head and chief administrative officer of each state
department to annually compile and report information regarding the delivery of
services to Spanish-speaking persons with limited English proficiency to the Latino
Commission.
WHEREAS, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against persons
based on their national origin; and
WHEREAS, one form of discrimination based on national origin is a failure to treat
persons with limited English proficiency (LEP) equally in the delivery of governmental
services; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, on August 11, 2000, President
Clinton signed Executive Order 13166, "Improving Access to Services for Persons with
Limited English Proficiency", which requires federal agencies and state agencies that receive
federal funds to develop and implement systems to provide services so that LEP persons can
have meaningful access to them; and
WHEREAS, though it is clear that every agency cannot be expected to provide every
service in every possible language, the executive order requires agencies to take reasonable
steps to ensure meaningful access to their programs and activities by LEP persons, and it
establishes a flexible and fact-dependent standard for assessing the need to provide language
assistance in any particular case; and
WHEREAS, the factors which an agency must consider in assessing this need include
the number or proportion of LEP persons eligible to be served or likely to be encountered
by the program and the frequency with which LEP individuals come in contact with the
program; and
WHEREAS, the number of Latinos in Louisiana has increased dramatically,
particularly since Hurricane Katrina, and in 2009, the Legislature of Louisiana created an ENROLLEDHCR NO. 110
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entity which is charged with identifying obstacles to the effective delivery of governmental
services to the Latino community; and
WHEREAS, it is appropriate that the Latino Commission should monitor the delivery
of governmental services to LEP persons whose primary language is Spanish, and in order
to do that the commission needs accurate information on the numbers of Spanish-speaking
LEP persons the agencies are encountering.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the executive head and chief administrative officer of each state department
to annually compile and report the following information regarding all agencies in his
department, as provided in the Executive Reorganization Act, to the Latino Commission: the
number and proportion of LEP persons whose primary language is Spanish whom the agency
encountered in the previous year in the delivery of its services and the operation of its
programs, and if the proportion of such persons is over five percent of the total number of
persons served, what steps the agency has taken to prevent discrimination based on national
origin as proscribed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that each such report shall cover a calendar year and
the report on a calendar year shall be delivered to the commission by March first of the
following year and that the first reports shall be delivered by March 1, 2011.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that all state agencies, regardless of the transfer type
by which they are placed in a department by the Executive Reorganization Act, shall
cooperate in providing information to the executive head and chief administrative officer in
the form and manner he determines.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
executive head and chief administrative officer of each department in the executive branch
of Louisiana government and to the chairman of the Latino Commission.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATI VES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE