[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1829 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1829

 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess and submit to 
Congress a report on the ability of the Department of Homeland Security 
     to convey information to, collect information from, and serve 
             individuals with limited English proficiency.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 15, 2015

Mrs. Torres (for herself, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, and Mrs. Watson 
   Coleman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Homeland Security

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to assess and submit to 
Congress a report on the ability of the Department of Homeland Security 
     to convey information to, collect information from, and serve 
             individuals with limited English proficiency.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``DHS Communication Enhancement Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. ASSESSING AND DEVELOPING A PLAN TO IMPROVE DHS COMMUNICATION 
              WITH AND SERVICE OF INDIVIDUALS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH 
              PROFICIENCY.

    (a) Assessment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting 
through the Under Secretary for Management, shall complete an 
assessment of the ability of the Department of Homeland Security to 
convey information to, collect information from, and serve individuals 
with limited English proficiency. With respect to each component in the 
Department, the assessment shall--
            (1) identify the languages spoken fluently and read by 
        individuals with limited English proficiency commonly 
        encountered by personnel of the component;
            (2) review the public materials of the component to assess 
        the extent to which the materials are available in the 
        languages identified under paragraph (1); and
            (3) assess the ability of personnel of the component to 
        communicate with and serve individuals with limited English 
        proficiency.
    (b) Report; Implementation Plan.--Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit a report 
to the Committee on Homeland Security of the House of Representatives 
and the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs of the 
Senate concerning the assessment under subsection (a). Such report 
shall include--
            (1) a summary of the findings of such assessment for each 
        component of the Department; and
            (2) a plan, including a timeline for implementation, 
        developed in consultation with the head of each component, to 
        improve the ability of each component to convey information to, 
        collect information from, and serve individuals with limited 
        English proficiency.
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