Language Survey and Implementation Plan

In compliance with the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act (Act), all state agencies must provide to the State Personnel Board (SPB) an Implementation Plan, effective January 1, 2003, and in every even-numbered year thereafter. The attached questionnaire was developed to ensure that each state agency submits an Implementation Plan that responds to the requirements of the Act. Each section of the questionnaire was developed to correspond to the relevant sections of the Act. This questionnaire refers to non- or limited-English speaking individuals as Limited English Proficient (LEP) customers.

The Act requires each state agency to conduct an assessment of its compliance and develop an Implementation Plan, that at a minimum, addresses all of the following:

1. Identifies one responsible person for overseeing implementation of the state agency's plan.
2. Describes procedures for identifying written materials that need to be translated.
3. Describes procedures for identifying language needs at local offices and assigning qualified bilingual staff.
4. Describes how the agency recruits qualified bilingual staff.
5. Identifies training the agency provides to its staff regarding the provision of services to non- or limited-English speaking individuals.
6. Identifies procedures for accepting and resolving complaints of an alleged violation of the Act.
7. Describes how the agency complies with any federal or other state laws that require linguistically accessible services to the public.
8. Provides a detailed description of how the agency plans to address any deficiencies in meeting the requirements of the Act.
9. Any other relevant information requested by the SPB.

The SPB is responsible for reviewing each agency's plan to determine whether or not it is responsive and may request the agency to provide additional information or make changes to its plan. If a department is found to be deficient in any area, the SPB can request the department to report its progress in addressing its deficiencies every six months. The SPB will review the results of each agency's Implementation Plan, compile the data, and issue a report to the Legislature.

The department will have to log into the automated system to access the questionnaire. If the department did not utilize SPB's automated language survey system, or you do not remember the department's log-in ID or password, please contact the SPB Bilingual Services Program at (916) 651-9017. The staff will provide you with the required log-in ID and password to enable the department to access the Implementation Plan questionnaire.

State agencies are required to submit their Implementation Plans to the SPB no later than October 1 of each even-numbered year. Each state agency, in developing its Implementation Plan, may rely on upon its current language survey data. If your agency did not participate in this language survey, it must develop an Implementation Plan based on other relevant historical information.

• Click here to proceed to the questionnaire.