Limited English Proficiency, LEP, Thinking Outside the Box
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Letter from the Chairman |
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Federal Election Commission LEP Plan |
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Department of Justice Publication: Limited English Proficiency, LEP, Thinking Outside the Box |
January 25, 2002
Ms. Merrily Friedlander, Chief
Coordination and Review Section
Civil Rights Division
Department of Justice
P.O. Box 66560
Washington, DC 20035-6560
Dear Ms. Friedlander:
This responds to the October 26, 2001, memorandum from Ralph F. Boyd, Jr., providing guidance to agencies with respect to implementation of Executive Order 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency.”
The Federal Election Commission was created by Section 310 of the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974 as an independent regulatory commission. As such, it is independent of executive authority, except in the selection of its members, and is free to exercise its judgment “without leave or hindrance of any other official or any department of the government.” See Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602, 625-26 (1935). The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is not bound by Executive Orders.
Nevertheless, the Commission agrees with the purposes and goals of Executive Order 13166. In this connection, we are pleased to provide you with the enclosed FEC Limited English Proficiency Access Plan for your review.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions about the Plan.
Sincerely,
(signed) David M. Mason
(typed) David M. Mason
Chairman
Enclosure
Executive Order 13166, and subsequent guidance from the Department of Justice (DOJ), requires all agencies that provide federal financial assistance to issue guidance on how Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to recipients of that assistance in their contact with persons with Limited English Proficiency (LEP). If an agency does not grant any federal financial assistance, it is not required to issue a recipient guidance document. It must, however, still design and implement a plan to ensure that the agency takes reasonable steps to comply with the intent of Title VI by providing meaningful access to all of its federally conducted programs and activities for individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP).
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance law. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Since most individuals who run for Federal office, and the political committees that support them, are English-proficient, the LEP population seeking FEC services is very small. In fact, the FEC has handled very few matters involving LEP individuals. On those rare occasions, bilingual staff have interpreted or translated the pertinent information.
Further, the FEC does not grant federal financial assistance within the meaning of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. We have, however, taken steps to ensure our programs are accessible to LEP and will continue to improve access to services for persons with LEP.
As an independent regulatory commission, the FEC is not bound by Executive Orders, but we do voluntarily abide by the spirit of those that conform with our mission and operational capabilities. The Commission agrees with the purposes and goals of Executive Order (EO) 13166 and, therefore, voluntarily presents the following LEP Plan.
Executive Order No. 13166, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency,” dated August 11, 2000 (65 Fed. Reg. 50121, Aug. 16, 2000) requires federal Agencies to assess and address the needs of otherwise eligible persons seeking access to federally conducted programs and activities, who, due to limited English proficiency, cannot fully and equally participate in or benefit from those programs and activities. The EO and DOJ LEP Guidance advises each federal agency to “take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to the information and services they provide.” The DOJ guidance document instructs agencies to consider four factors in developing LEP guidance for their recipients (the number of LEP persons in the eligible service population or likely to be encountered in recipient activities and programs; the frequency with which LEP individuals come into contact with the program; the importance of the service or information provided by the program; and the resources available to the recipient of the federal funds).
The FEC’s statutory jurisdiction covers four broad subjects: (1) public disclosure of funds raised and spent to influence federal elections; (2) restrictions on contributions and expenditures made to influence federal elections; (3) the public financing of Presidential campaigns; and (4) the National Clearinghouse on Election Administration. In the Commission’s experience, the vast majority of the population with which we do business (individuals running for federal office and the committees that support them) is proficient in English, so that LEP services are not normally required. In calendar year 2000, the FEC received approximately 101,559 calls to its Reports Analysis Division, Information Division, Public Records Office, Press Office and its Office of Election Administration. These calls came in from the almost 10,000 filers that existed in CY 2000, as well as from the general public.
All contacts with the FEC are made through its office in Washington, DC. The FEC has no field offices. These contacts are made through telephone calls, via main telephone lines directly to offices and an FEC toll free line, mail, Internet web site, e-mail, and in person. In addition to the over 100,000 contacts by those seeking general information in 2000, the FEC had 230 enforcement and disclosure cases pending on December 31. The Commission activated approximately half of those cases and issued approximately 40 advisory opinions. Yet, FEC estimates that fewer than three persons with limited English proficiency have contacted the agency in the past few years.
The FEC discloses the flow of money in political campaigns for federal office, enforces limitations on the amounts and sources of that money, and administers the public financing of Presidential campaigns. The agency provides important services to the public through these programs, which also serve to dispel the appearance of corruption in our political process and thus aids in holding some measure of confidence in the government. While our programs serve a necessary and meaningful public purpose, they do not rise to the level of matters having life or death implications (e.g., the provision of services to children, medical care, food, housing, etc.).
Recognizing the occasional need to handle calls in languages other than English, the FEC staff compiled a list of staff volunteers with fluency in some 13 languages other than English. Through these volunteers, we are able to assist callers who are better served by speaking with staff in languages other than English. Volunteers fluent in the languages of callers or correspondents are asked to deal directly with LEP persons in responding to inquiries. Technical staff is called upon as necessary in order to assist volunteers in providing requested information. We ask for assistance from volunteers to help callers on an infrequent basis—less than once a year. Thus, FEC’s current policy of using bilingual staff volunteers is an efficient and effective use of resources.
Additionally, the FEC has made available several of its publications on its website in Spanish at http://www.fec.gov/pages/espanol.htm. They are:
The printed version of “The FEC and the Federal Election Campaign Finance Law” brochure is also available in Russian, French and Italian. Also, we offer our “Why Me?” video for candidates in Russian and are in the process of translating it to Spanish..
FEC’s current in-house language capabilities are Spanish, French, German, Latin, Slovak, Russian, Czech, Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, and Haitian Creole. Experienced staff are fluent in these languages. They have agreed to serve as interpreters as needed on those infrequent occasions when a person with limited English proficiency contacts the FEC. The only language other than English that has been needed to date is Spanish.
The FEC is committed to the integrity and openness of the federal election campaign finance process; a fair and inclusive system, accessible to the entire elections community, the academia, the public, and the media; and staff training and development so that we can provide our client groups with the highest possible level of service. To that end, FEC managers have been informed of those staff available to interpret or translate various languages and will refer LEP contacts as appropriate. Further, FEC will obtain interpreter and translator services, as needed, through the General Services Administration.
The FEC will periodically review any contacts with the LEP persons to determine the types and frequency of contacts, the language used, and how the contacts were handled. The information will be used to determine whether additional efforts are needed. If so, FEC will update this plan and submit it to DOJ.
[1] According to the Policy Guidance Document issued by the U.S. Department of Justice entitled “Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964-National Origin Discrimination Against Persons With Limited English Proficiency, issued August 16, 2000, “[T]hose who serve very few LEP persons on an infrequent basis should utilize this balancing analysis to determine whether reasonable steps are possible and, if so, have a plan of what to do if a LEP individual seeks service under the program in question. This plan need not be intricate; it may be as simple as being prepared to use one of the commercially available language lines to obtain immediate interpreter services.”
[2] According to the DOJ Policy Guidance, “… if LEP individuals must access the [agency’s] program or activity on a daily basis … [an agency] has greater duties than if such contact is unpredictable or infrequent. [Agencies] … should have the flexibility to tailor their services to those needs.”
[3] “More affirmative steps must be taken in programs where the denial or delay of access may have life or death implications than in programs that are not as crucial to one’s day-to-day existence. … A decision by a Federal, state, or local entity to make an activity compulsory … serves as strong evidence of the program’s importance.” Ibid.
[4] “[A] small [agency] with limited resources may not have to take the same steps as a larger [agency] to provide LEP assistance in programs that have a limited number of eligible LEP individuals, where contact is infrequent, where the total cost of providing language services is relatively high, and/or where the program is not crucial to an individual’s day-to-day existence.” Ibid.
The federal government and those receiving assistance from the federal government must take reasonable steps to ensure that LEP persons have meaningful access to the programs, services, and information those entities provide. This will require agencies to think "outside the box" for creative solutions to address the needs of this ever-growing population of individuals, for whom English is not their primary language.
Persons who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write or understand English can be limited English proficient, or "LEP." These individuals may be entitled to language assistance with respect to a particular type of service, benefit, or encounter.
All programs and operations of entities that receive assistance from the federal government (i.e. recipients), including:
All programs and operations of the federal government also must comply.
Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act
“No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." 42 U.S.C. § 2000d.
The United States Supreme Court in Lau v. Nichols (1974) stated that one type of national origin discrimination is discrimination based on a person’s inability to speak, read, write, or understand English.
Executive Order 13166
On August 2000, this Order "Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency" was issued and directed federal agencies to:
The Order covers all federal and federally assisted programs and activities.
Recipients of federal financial assistance have an obligation to reduce language barriers that can preclude meaningful access by LEP persons to important government services. (The federal government has the same obligations as a result of Executive Order 13166.) The starting point is an individualized assessment that balances the following four factors:
Elements which may be helpful in designing an LEP policy or plan:
For more information and detailed agency-specific guidance, go to
To build awareness of the need and methods to ensure that limited English proficient (LEP) persons have meaningful access to important federal and federally assisted programs, and to ensure implementation of language access, requirements under Title VI, the Title VI regulations, and Executive Order 13166 in a consistent and effective manner across agencies.
January 2002
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Department of Justice
http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/corUS. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Coordination and Review Section - NYA
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20530Title VI Hotline:
1-888-TITLE-06 (1-888-848-5306) (Voice / TDD)