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MEASURE X COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD

Meeting Date:	05/12/2021
Subject: Language Equity
Submitted For:	MEASURE X Com Advisory Board
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	2/2/21 D.4
Referral Name:	Community Advisory Committee for Measure X
Presenter:	Ali Saidi	Contact:	Lisa Driscoll (925) 655-2047

Information

Referral History:

The issue of language equity was placed on the May 5, 2021 agenda of the Measure X Community Advisory Board.

Referral Update:

At the meeting of May 5 meeting of the Measure X Community Advisory Board, the following questions/direction came out of the discussion:

Are their restrictions on advisory bodies regarding providing interpretation and translation services? Currently, the Brown Act does not require bodies to provide interpretation and translation services. It does require that the body provide at least twice the time allotted for public comment to a member of the public who uses an interpreter. The reason for this is to ensure that non-English speakers receive the same opportunity to address the body as English speakers. (Gov. Code, sec. 54954.3 (b) (2).)

Ab 339 (Lee) would amend Government Code section 54953 to provide “All members of the public shall be entitled to participate in open and public meetings, regardless of national origin or language ability.” It is unclear how a court would interpret the “entitlement to participate” and what this might entail.

AB 339 originally provided that instructions on joining a meeting virtually or telephonically would have to be made available to all non-English speakers in their own language on request, and “should” be published in the two most spoken languages other than English within the body’s jurisdictional boundaries. The body also would have been required to provide the agenda on request to non-English speakers in their own language, to provide interpretation on request, to have a system to process requests for interpretation services and to publicize that system online. All of these provisions have been deleted from the current version of the bill. We continue to watch this bill. For now, the MXCAB is free to select which language interpretation it wishes to provide.

What are the limitations of English Closed Captioning available for free through Zoom? English Closed Captioning is available to participants and was enabled for the last meeting. We had no requests for accommodation. Should those occur, staff can provide instruction if needed on how to use it. If the Board wishes to continue English Closed Captioning, instruction can also be provided on the weekly agenda. Note that presently, Zoom does not support uploading caption files to the video recording.

What will staff request from the Board of Supervisors? As quickly as possible with the goal of making the May 18, 2021 Board of Supervisors meeting, and at the direction of the Measure X Community Advisory Board staff will request the following: 1) funds for two live Spanish interpreters for all meetings; and 2) funds for Spanish translation of all agenda packet materials. Note that recordings of interpretation sessions will only record the original audio of the meeting or webinar, not the translations.

If approved by the Board of Supervisors, how quickly can services be ordered? The County has a current contract/purchase order with Continental interpreting service who can provide the real time interpretation and the written translation. They can also advise how best to do the real time interpretation via Zoom. Staff has requested quotes from Continental. The MXCAB may want to request flexibility to also or instead use a contract with one of the CBOs.

Meanwhile for the meeting of May 12, 2021, staff is working to provide live Spanish interpretation services and Spanish agenda packet translation services funded through Stand Together Contra Costa.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

Receive update on language equity for the Measure X Community Advisory Board.

Attachments
MXCAB Presentation Schedule Flyer
Horario de Presentación