North Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

North Carolina House Bill H730 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
2	2		SESSION 2025
3		-	H 1
4		-	HOUSE BILL 730
	3	+	H D
	4	+	HOUSE BILL DRH40416-MVa-14
	5	+
5	6
6	7
7	8		Short Title: Comprehensive State Communications. (Public)
8		-	Sponsors: Representatives Lopez, Cervania, Liu, and Turner (Primary Sponsors).
9		-	For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.
10		-	Referred to: Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House
11		-	April 3, 2025
12		-	H730 -v-1
	9	+	Sponsors: Representative Lopez.
	10	+	Referred to:
	11	+
	12	+	DRH40416 -MVa-14
13	13		A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
14	14		AN ACT TO REQUIRE THAT STATE-PROVIDED INFORMATION ABOUT STATE 2
15	15		SERVICES IS AVAILABLE IN THE FIVE MOST COMMON NON -ENGLISH 3
16	16		LANGUAGES SPOKEN AT HOME BY RESIDENTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 4
17	17		The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 5
18	18		SECTION 1.(a) Article 1 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is amended by 6
19	19		adding a new section to read: 7
20	20		"§ 143B-28.2. Language accessibility. 8
21	21		Each principal department under this Chapter and Chapter 143A of the General Statutes shall, 9
22	22		at the time of publishing any information regarding State services or resources under the 10
23	23		department's authority, submit the language contained in the publication to the Department of 11
24	24		Administration for translation pursuant to G.S. 143B-370.2. Once translated and returned to the 12
25	25		principal department, the principal department shall publish the translated information in the 13
26	26		same format, whether electronic or print, in which the principal department publishes this 14
27	27		information in English." 15
28	28		SECTION 1.(b) Article 9 of Chapter 143B of the General Statutes is amended by 16
29	29		adding a new section to read: 17
30	30		"§ 143B-370.2. Language accessibility. 18
31	31		(a) The Department of Administration, through a competitive procurement process, shall 19
32	32		contract with a certified translation service to translate information regarding State services or 20
33	33		resources under each principal department's authority, as submitted to the Department pursuant 21
34	34		to G.S. 143B-28.2. The contract shall ensure that language contained in the information 22
35	35		submitted is translated into the five most common non-English languages spoken in the homes 23
36	36		of residents of North Carolina, according to the most recently available United States Census 24
37	37		Bureau, American Community Survey. 25
38	38		(b) The Department of Administration shall return translated information to the 26
39	39		submitting principal department for publication as soon as practicable. To that end, the 27
40	40		Department shall develop a procedure to actively oversee the timely translation of submitted 28
41	41		information and a time line for each translation's completion. 29
42	42		(c) If one of the five most common non-English languages under subsection (a) of this 30
43	43		section is designated by the United States Census Bureau, American Community Survey, as 31
44	44		"Chinese," the information shall be translated into the Mandarin language. A member of the 32
45	45		public may request from the Department of Administration that specific information be translated 33
46	46		into the Cantonese language, and the Department shall facilitate the translation and provide the 34
47		-	information in Cantonese upon request. 35 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
48		-	Page 2 House Bill 730-First Edition
	47	+	information in Cantonese upon request. 35
	48	+	H.B. 730
	49	+	Apr 2, 2025
	50	+	HOUSE PRINCIPAL CLERK General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
	51	+	Page 2 DRH40416-MVa-14
49	52		(d) After consultation with the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental 1
50	53		Operations, the Department may convert contractual translation services to permanent State 2
51	54		translator positions if the Director determines that it is more cost‑effective to do so." 3
52	55		SECTION 2. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of 4
53	56		Administration the sum of five million four hundred eighty-seven thousand seven hundred 5
54	57		sixty-seven dollars ($5,487,767) in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to implement 6
55	58		the requirements of this act. 7
56	59		SECTION 3. Section 2 of this act becomes effective July 1, 2025. The remainder of 8
57	60		this act is effective when it becomes law, and the provision of translated information applies 9
58	61		beginning January 1, 2027. 10