Office
of the Press Secretary
(Aboard
Air Force One)
_________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release
August
11, 2000
EXECUTIVE
ORDER
13166
IMPROVING
ACCESS TO SERVICES FOR
PERSONS
WITH LIMITED ENGLISH PROFICIENCY
By the
authority vested in me as
President by the
Constitution and
the laws of the United States of
America, and to improve access to
federally conducted and federally
assisted programs and activities for
persons who, as a result of national
origin, are limited in their
English proficiency (LEP), it is hereby
ordered as follows:
Section
1. Goals.
The
Federal Government provides and
funds an array of
services that
can be made accessible to otherwise
eligible persons who are not
proficient in the English language. The
Federal Government is
committed to improving the
accessibility of these services to eligible
LEP persons, a goal that reinforces its
equally important commitment to
promoting programs and activities
designed to help individuals learn
English. To this end, each Federal
agency shall examine the services
it provides and develop and implement a
system by which LEP persons can
meaningfully access those services
consistent with, and without unduly
burdening, the fundamental mission of
the agency. Each Federal agency
shall also work to ensure that
recipients of Federal financial
assistance (recipients) provide
meaningful access to their LEP
applicants and beneficiaries. To assist
the agencies with this
endeavor, the Department of Justice has
today issued a general
guidance document (LEP Guidance), which
sets forth the compliance
standards that recipients must follow
to ensure that the programs and
activities they normally provide in
English are accessible to LEP
persons and thus do not discriminate on
the basis of national origin
in violation of title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, as amended,
and its implementing regulations. As
described in the LEP Guidance,
recipients must take reasonable steps
to ensure meaningful access to
their programs and activities by LEP
persons.
Sec. 2.
Federally Conducted Programs and
Activities.
Each
Federal agency shall prepare a plan
to improve access
to its
federally conducted programs and
activities by eligible LEP persons.
Each plan shall be consistent with the
standards set forth in the LEP
Guidance, and shall include the steps
the agency will take to ensure
that eligible LEP persons can
meaningfully access the agency's programs
and activities. Agencies shall develop
and begin to implement these
plans within 120 days of the date of
this order, and shall send copies
of their plans to the Department of
Justice, which shall serve as the
central repository of the agencies'
plans.
Sec. 3.
Federally Assisted Programs and
Activities.
Each
agency providing Federal financial
assistance shall
draft
title VI guidance specifically tailored
to its recipients that is
consistent with the LEP Guidance issued
by the Department of Justice.
This agency-specific guidance shall
detail how the general standards
established in the LEP Guidance will be
applied to the agency's
recipients. The agency-specific
guidance shall take into account the
types of services provided by the
recipients, the individuals
served by the recipients, and other
factors set out in the LEP Guidance.
Agencies that already have developed
title VI guidance that the
Department of Justice determines is
consistent with the LEP Guidance
shall examine their existing guidance,
as well as their programs and
activities, to determine if additional
guidance is necessary to comply
with this order. The Department of
Justice shall consult with the
agencies in creating their guidance
and, within 120 days of the date
of this order, each agency shall submit
its specific guidance to the
Department of Justice for review and
approval. Following approval by
the Department of Justice, each agency
shall publish its guidance
document in the Federal Register for
public comment.
Sec. 4.
Consultations.
In
carrying out this order, agencies
shall ensure that
stakeholders, such as LEP persons and
their representative
organizations, recipients, and other
appropriate individuals or
entities, have an adequate opportunity
to provide input. Agencies will
evaluate the particular needs of the
LEP persons they and their
recipients serve and the burdens of
compliance on the agency and its
recipients. This input from
stakeholders will assist the agencies in
developing an approach to ensuring
meaningful access by LEP persons
that is practical and effective,
fiscally responsible, responsive to
the particular circumstances of each
agency, and can be readily
implemented.
Sec. 5.
Judicial Review.
This
order is intended only to improve
the internal
management of
the executive branch and does not
create any right or benefit,
substantive or procedural, enforceable
at law or equity by a party
against the United States, its
agencies, its officers or employees, or
any person.