Public Hearings: Language Access Plan for California Courts

February 19, 2014

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Public Hearings: Statewide Language Access Plan for California Courts

SAN FRANCISCO—Roughly 20 percent of Californians–nearly 7 million–have some English language limitations, making it difficult to access the courts without significant language assistance.

To address this need, the Judicial Council established a joint working group to develop a statewide language access plan for limited-English-proficient court users. The plan will incorporate extensive feedback from varied stakeholders, including members of the public, bench officers, court executive officers and staff, court interpreters and interpreter organizations, attorneys, bar associations, and legal services organizations.

To help garner input on the plan, the working group will hold public hearings on language access in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Sacramento on the dates below:

San Francisco: Mon, Feb 24; 10 am to 4 pm (meeting agenda)
Administrative Office of the Courts, Milton Marks Auditorium (Lower Level)
455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California, 94102
(Language assistance provided at hearing: ASL, Cantonese, Russian, Spanish, Vietnamese)

Los Angeles: Tues, March 4; 10 am to 4 pm (meeting agenda)
Ronald Reagan State Building
300 South Spring Street Auditorium, Los Angeles, California, 90013
(Language assistance provided at hearing: ASL, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese)

Sacramento: Thurs, March 13; 10 am to 4 pm (meeting agenda)
Secretary of State Auditorium
1500 11th Street Sacramento, California 95814
(Language assistance provided at hearing: ASL, Cantonese, Hmong, Russian, Spanish)

A live audiocast of the hearings, as well as closed captioning (in English and Spanish), will be available on the Language Access webpage.

In addition to commenting at the hearings, members of the public can also e-mail comments to LAP@jud.ca.gov. Comments received will be included in the hearings’ public records.

For more information about the Judicial Council’s Joint Working Group for California’s Language Access Plan, please visit our website at:  www.courts.ca.gov/languageaccess.htm.