Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Coronavirus Language Access Act”.
Coronavirus Language Access Act
A BILL
To ensure that COVID–19-related Federal programs and assistance provide for the translation of informational materials relating to awareness, screening, testing, and treatment for COVID–19 into priority languages.
Sec. 2 Definitions
In this Act:
Community-based organization— The term community-based organization means an entity that has established relationships with the communities served by the entity, including especially hard-to-reach populations, racial and ethnic minority communities, individuals with limited English proficiency, and individuals with disabilities.
Coronavirus public health emergency— The term coronavirus public health emergency means the public health emergency declared by the Secretary pursuant to section 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d) with respect to COVID–19.
Coronavirus response law— The term coronavirus response law means—
the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2020 (Public Law 116–123);
the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (Public Law 116–127);
the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (Public Law 116–136);
the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (Public Law 116–139);
the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (Public Law 116–142); and
any subsequent Act enacted as a response to a coronavirus public health emergency.
COVID–19— The term COVID–19 means the novel coronavirus or SARS–CoV–2.
Priority languages— The term priority languages means—
in the case of Federal agencies, at a minimum, the languages as identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency Language Access Plan, dated October 1, 2016, as the languages most frequently encountered, including Spanish, Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Russian, Tagalog, Urdu, Vietnamese, Greek, Polish, Thai, and Portuguese; or
in the case of State agencies or grant recipients operating in a State, at a minimum, the 15 languages spoken with greatest frequency by individuals with limited English proficiency in that State.
Secretary— The term Secretary means the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
State— The term State means each of the several States and the District of Columbia.