[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 16, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 50121-50122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-20938]



[[Page 50119]]

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Part V





The President





Executive Order 13166--Improving Access to Services for Persons With 
Limited English Proficiency



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Department of Justice





Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964--National 
Origin Discrimination Against Persons With Limited English Proficiency; 
Notice
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  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 16, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 50121]]

                Executive Order 13166 of August 11, 2000

                
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,

[[Page 50122]]

                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.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

                THE WHITE HOUSE,

                     August 11, 2000.

[FR Doc. 00-20938
Filed 8-15-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P