Bill would require Mass. agencies to offer more services in multiple languages

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A measure proposed by legislators would require public agencies to offer paperwork and portals in different languages, as well as translation and interpretation services, to ensure access to all residents including those less than fluent in English.

From left, legislators Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield, Rep. Adrian Madaro, D-East Boston and Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, propose a measure that would ease access to state agencies by residents who are not fluent English speakers.
From left, legislators Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield, Rep. Adrian Madaro, D-East Boston and Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, propose a measure that would ease access to state agencies by residents who are not fluent English speakers.

“I call it ‘Gloribel’s Bill.’ I’m proud to be partnering with her,” said Rep. Adrian Madaro, D-East Boston, of the proposed legislation, which he filed in honor of Gloribel Rivas, his chief of staff.

The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Carlos Gonzalez, D-Springfield, and in the Senate by Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everett, would require the state’s public-facing agencies to phase in language services.

Agencies including the Department of Unemployment Assistance and Department of Children and Families would be required to translate documents and websites, as well as offer interpreters for speakers of other languages. The targeted languages include Arabic, Cape Verdean Creole, Chinese (simplified and traditional), French, Haitian Creole, Khmer, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese and any others deemed necessary by the agency’s language-access survey.

Massachusetts departments and agencies currently spend $1.35 million a year on materials and staff for other language access, according to calculations made by Appleseed Center for Law & Justice. Those expenses, the center calculates, would increase by $1.74 million to $3.09 million the first year of implementation. The second year, those costs would be lower, leveling out at $2.37 million.

The cost of current language services was obtained from the state procurement office, according to the center. Calculations on future costs if the bill is enacted were made using certain factors including the demand for other language services to each agency. The center also factored in the cost of translation of forms, reviewing websites, hiring staff and using translation services.

An estimate of the cost of translating documents, websites, portals and offering translation services calculated by the Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.
An estimate of the cost of translating documents, websites, portals and offering translation services calculated by the Appleseed Center for Law & Justice.
Cost analysis of translating and interpreting for state services in 10 languages.
Cost analysis of translating and interpreting for state services in 10 languages.

“During the pandemic, Gloribel spent hours on the telephone every day helping people navigate the online portal to apply for unemployment benefits,” Madaro said. That experience prompted him to make changes that would ease access for his constituents. More than half his district has roots in South American countries.

“At the time, I saw the solution was to translate the unemployment portal into Spanish,” Madaro said, adding he worked successfully with former Gov. Charlie Baker's administration to accomplish the task.

Documents, websites, interpreters eyed

While helpful, Madaro said, the move fell short of what residents across the state needed as they attempted to access government services.

Rivas made Madaro aware of the extent of the difficulties faced by Massachusetts residents who are less than fluent English speakers. Rivas also educated the legislator to the challenges and the life experience of many Massachusetts residents trying to navigate the system.

“We have to rectify a deeper structural inequity,” Madaro said, noting that “structural inequities need structural reforms.”

The measure is supported by dozens of grassroots and community-based organizations that offer social, cultural, health and language-based services under the banner of MASS Speaks Coalition, which includes the Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, Massachusetts Immigrant & Refugee Advocacy Coalition, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and the Justice Center of Southeast Massachusetts.

While Massachusetts has not passed any measures declaring English as the state's official language, a 1975 court case (Commonwealth v. Olivo) has been interpreted as declaring it so. The case involved tenancy rights, and the Supreme Judicial Court held that a notification printed only in English advising non-English speaking tenants to vacate a dwelling was sufficient notice. In its finding, the court held that “[t]his is not an officially multilingual country and notification of official matters in the sole official language of both this nation and this Commonwealth is patently reasonable.”

From left, Dawn Sauma of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence with Tran Nguyen, a client she helped access state services during the pandemic by offering advocacy and interpretation services as she navigated the Massachusetts unemployment portal, MassHealth and Children & Family Services.
From left, Dawn Sauma of the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence with Tran Nguyen, a client she helped access state services during the pandemic by offering advocacy and interpretation services as she navigated the Massachusetts unemployment portal, MassHealth and Children & Family Services.

Dawn Sauma, of the Asian Taskforce Against Domestic Violence, said the organization offers services in 22 Asian languages. During the pandemic, the organization spent about four hours a day translating for clients as they attempted to access state services. The agency workers also spent hours mediating with state agencies for their clients who had missed deadlines, filed incorrect paperwork and faced consequences precipitated and exacerbated by the lack of language services available at the agencies.

Federal law, Sauma said, mandates that states provide language services as needed.

“It’s not the job of grassroots agencies” to fulfill that mandate, Sauma said.

A client, Tran Nguyen, speaking in Vietnamese, detailed her struggles accessing state agencies. She talked of her frustration at not being able to understand the documents or the words of state employees who interacted with her. Even with an interpreter, she was unable to understand or make herself understood. She feared she would lose her children and health insurance.

'It should not take luck'

“I was lucky to find an advocate,” Nguyen said. “But it should not take luck,” to access the services provided by the state, she added.

DiDomenico said he speaks for those who could not attend the press conference, the people in his district who work two and three jobs trying to survive.

“Government,” he said, addressing those absent, “is not working for you.”

Many of his constituents are considered essential workers, employed in grocery stores, health care settings, and transportation and food services.

“The constituents in my two communities (Chelsea and Everett) kept the Massachusetts economy going,” during the pandemic, DiDomenico said, noting that while in the rest of Massachusetts bus ridership fell to 10% as a result of COVID-19, in his community, it remained at 50%. “People get up, go to work every day.”

Rep. David H.A. LeBoeuf, D-Worcester, has signed on as a co-sponsor of the House bill; Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton, has signed as co-sponsor of the Senate measure.

“We need to help those people who don’t usually access services,” LeBoeuf said, adding that he has also filed a measure that would mandate the state streamline and simplify the language used in official documents.

“Check one wrong box when filing unemployment insurance claims and the mistake could spiral,” LeBoeuf said. The language can be challenging, even for native English speakers, he noted, adding that one mistake could cause the state to deny benefits or require that benefits be repaid, even if they were never received in the first place.

Gonzalez addressed the gathering in Spanish, pointing out that Massachusetts is a community of immigrants and every legislator represents a community with a large immigrant population.

“It is part of ‘public service’ to provide services to the community,” Gonzalez said.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Bill would require more language and translation services in state agencies