Report 2010-106 Recommendation 7 Responses

Report 2010-106: Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act: State Agencies Do Not Fully Comply With the Act, and Local Governments Could Do More to Address Their Clients' Needs (Release Date: November 2010)

Recommendation #7 To: Personnel Board, State

The Personnel Board should require state agencies to provide all of the information required by the Act. For example, the Personnel Board should ensure that state agencies identify their deficiencies in staffing and translated written materials and that the state agencies' implementation plans detail sufficiently how and when they plan to address these deficiencies. The Personnel Board should assess the adequacy of state agencies' language surveys and implementation plans. If it determines that implementation plans do not address deficiencies in staffing or written materials adequately, the Personnel Board should order the agencies to revise or supplement their plans accordingly. The Personnel Board should also require state agencies to report to it every six months on their progress in addressing their deficiencies. If the Personnel Board determines that agencies have not made reasonable progress toward complying with the Act, it should consider ordering them to comply with the Act. These actions could include ordering state agency officials to appear before the Personnel Board to explain why their agencies have not complied. If these actions or its other efforts to enforce the Act are ineffective, the Personnel Board should consider asking a court to issue writs of mandate under Section 1085 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to require agencies to perform their duties. The Personnel Board should seek enough additional staff to fulfill its obligations under the Act, or it should seek changes to the Act that would reduce its responsibilities and make them commensurate with its staffing levels.

1-Year Agency Response

The Personnel Board revised its forms to capture all of the information required by the Act. In addition, the Personnel Board has developed procedures to assess the adequacy of state agencies' language surveys and implementation plans, which includes evaluating the status of agencies' corrective action plans for addressing deficiencies in bilingual staffing and written materials. If it determines that agencies' corrective action plans do not adequately address deficiencies, the Personnel Board now requires such agencies to revise their plans accordingly. In addition, the Personnel Board requires deficient agencies to submit six-month progress reports. Further, the Personnel Board revised its procedures to invite nonexempt state agencies that do not submit language surveys or implementation plans to explain their noncompliance to its five-member board. Finally, the Personnel Board's bilingual services unit secured three student assistants to assist with its workload. (See 2012-406 p.66)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2010-106

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.