1226.1 When used in this chapter, the following terms and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed:

Administrative Hearing - a hearing before any governmental or administrative agency, or before an administrative law judge.

Agency - a designated District of Columbia entity which has specified functions and/or provides particular services to the public.

Baseline Assessment - a collection of data regarding specific characteristics of a covered entity as of the date the Language Access Act becomes effective for that entity.

Biennial Language Access Plan (BLAP) - a two-year mandatory compliance plan for each covered entity with major public contact that is to be revised and published in the D.C. Register biennially by the entity.

Bilingual Employee - an employee who is assessed and certified as “proficient” in both the English language and a language other than English by DCHR or the personnel authority of the entity in which he/she is employed should the entity not fall under DCHR’s purview.

Complainant - an individual, group of individuals, or organization(s) who brings or files a public complaint alleging violations of the Language Access Act against an agency, generally titled the respondent.

Consultative Agencies - is as collective term used to refer to the Mayor’s Offices on African Affairs, Asian Pacific Islander Affairs, and Latino Affairs. These agencies are referred to in the Act as government offices that conduct outreach to communities with LEP/NEP populations

D.C. Language Access Coalition - the established alliance of diverse community-based organizations in the District that work with the District government to foster and promote the civil rights of immigrant and LEP/NEP communities by advocating for meaningful language access within the District.

Formal Complaint - means a docketed public complaint that is being investigated for systemic language access noncompliance.

Interpretation - oral/verbal conversion of the meaning of a dialogue from one language to another language and vice versa. There are three (3) types of interpretation:

Sight translation - an interpreter reads a document written in one language and translates it orally into another language.

Consecutive interpretation - an interpreter translates a speaker's words orally after the foreign language speaker has stopped speaking.

Simultaneous interpretation - an interpreter speaks simultaneously with the source language speaker.

Limited English Proficient (LEP) - means individuals who do not speak English as their primary language and who have a limited ability to read, speak, write, or understand English.

Linguistic and Cultural Competency Training - training that educates, informs, instructs or guides agency staff on how to provide readily available, culturally appropriate oral and written language services to LEP/NEP individuals through such means as bilingual/bicultural staff, trained interpreters, and qualified translators.

Non-English Proficient (NEP) - persons who cannot speak or understand the English language at any level.

Oral Language Services - the provision of oral information necessary to enable LEP/NEP individuals to access or participate in programs or services offered by a covered entity. The types of oral language services include:

Commercial Interpretation Services: Professional businesses that offer oral interpretation as part of their array of services

Community Interpretation Services: Community interpreters are members of a given language community who serve as liaisons between monolingual speakers of their native language and English.

Multilingual Telephonic Interpretation Services: An over-the-phone interpretation service that provides professionally trained and qualified interpreters in various languages.

Staff Interpreter: An employee who has been trained and proven competence in interpretation. Certification, training, or assessments indicate the employee's proficiency as an interpreter.

Bilingual employee.

Party - the individual, group of individuals, or organization(s) named in a public complaint charging noncompliance with the Language Access Act, and is generally the complainant or the respondent.

Personnel Authority - The District's Department of Human Resources or individual departments within covered entities with independent hiring authority responsible for human resource matters, including, but not limited to hiring, compensation and promotion.

Public Complaint - an administrative complaint filed under the rules of procedure established by Section 6(b)(2) of the Act, the LA Director or OHR, and § 1217 of the Language Access Act municipal regulations, which is filed by a person or organization claiming lack of access to a covered entity(ies) services due to significant language barriers posed by the entity(ies) in violation of the Language Access Act.

Public Contact Position - position in a covered entity for which the primary responsibilities include greeting, meeting, serving or providing information or services to the public. These are positions that require personal contacts with the public, community and civic organizations, or any combination of these groups.

Public Meeting - a meeting scheduled by a covered entity and a LEP/NEP community to allow for input or feedback from community members on issues of interest relating to the Language Access Act and service(s) provided by the entity.

Respondent - The respondent agency against whom the complainant files a public complaint charging noncompliance with the Language Access Act

Translation - the written conversion of texts in the source language into texts written in the target language, retaining the meaning and intent of the original source text and producing a culturally competent product. All translators providing translation services to the District must be certified and/or otherwise qualified.

Vital documents - applications and their instructions, notices, complaint forms, legal contracts, correspondence, and outreach materials published by a covered entity in a tangible format, including but not limited to those which inform individuals about their rights and responsibilities or eligibility requirements for benefits and participation, as well as documents that pertain to the health and safety of the public. The term 'vital documents' shall include tax-related educational and outreach materials produced by the Office of Tax and Revenue, but shall not include tax forms and instructions.

SOURCE: Final Rulemaking published at 55 DCR 6348 (June 6, 2008).