Illinois § 25

§ 25.

Language access plans. (a) Each State agency shall take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to services, programs, and activities by LEP persons. Therefore, each State agency shall prepare and submit a language access plan to the Governor's Office of New Americans. Each language access plan should describe the population of LEP persons the agency serves, the policy and programmatic actions the agency will implement to ensure meaningful access, and the metrics the agency will use to measure compliance with this Act. (b) Each State agency shall designate a Language Access Coordinator who is responsible for overseeing the development and implementation of the agency's language access plan. (c) The adequacy of a State agency's language access plan shall be determined by the totality of the circumstances, including an individualized assessment that balances the following factors: (1) the number or proportion of LEP persons who are served or encountered in the eligible service population of the State agency; (2) the frequency with which LEP persons come in contact with the services, programs, or activities provided by the State agency; (3) the nature and importance of the services, programs, or activities provided by the State agency; and (4) the resources available to the State agency and the costs. (d) Each State agency shall describe in its plans how it will provide all of the following: (1) competent, timely translation and interpretation services to LEP persons who are seeking access to information, services, programs, or activities provided by the State agency; and (2) vital document translation services for LEP persons who are seeking access to information, services, programs, or activities provided by the State agency, as follows: (A) if there are more than 1,000 LEP persons in the population of persons served by the State agency or if LEP persons comprise more than 5% of the population of persons served by the State agency; or (B) if there are fewer than 50 persons served by the State agency that reach the 5% threshold in subparagraph (A), the State agency shall provide written notice in the primary language to the LEP persons of the right to receive competent oral interpretation of those written materials free of cost. (3) Following the first submitted plan, language access plans shall include an assessment of performance metrics for the previous State fiscal year. (e) The Governor's Office of New Americans, with the support of the Department of Human Services and any other relevant State agencies, shall develop a template and mechanism for collecting and analyzing State agency language access plans. (f) Following completion of the assessment, the Governor's Office of New Americans, with the support of the Department of Human Services and any other relevant State agencies, shall provide guidance and feedback to each State agency, including any recommendations to ensure compliance with this Act. (g) Language access plans shall be made publicly accessible by each State agency. (Source: P.A. 103-723, eff. 8-2-24.)