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1 1 (June 7, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govelxh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con gressionol Research Service Informing the IegisIative debate since 1914 Updated June 7, 2023 FEMA Assistance: Limited English Proficiency and Equity Individuals with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) often encounter disproportionate risk during hazards as well as barriers to federal relief. Statute requires the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA; the lead agency for domestic emergency management) to ensure that disaster relief reaches individuals with LEP. This In Focus summarizes select risks that language barriers impose during hazard response and recovery (e.g., evacuation and sheltering), federal authorities addressing disaster relief for individuals with LEP, and recent policy proposals to enhance the delivery of federal relief for such individuals. Language Barriers-Select Rkss Language barriers may exacerbate the effects of hazards and hinder relief efforts in the following ways: * Individuals with LEP may not understand evacuation notices or instructions, raising the risk of casualty. * Individuals with LEP may not understand emergency relief providers, impeding access to emergency medical care, sheltering assistance, and key relief commodities. * Individuals with LEP may not understand federal aid applications, written guidance, and oral instructions, deterring or delaying their requests for relief or yielding insufficient awards. (FEMA reports that it can provide some assistance in English and Spanish, and contracts for assistance in additional languages, though some translations may be inaccurate or unintelligible. * Officials with LEP in state, local, tribal, and territorial governments (SLTTs) and nonprofits may not understand relief instructions and procedures, inhibiting the delivery of critical assistance. Key Authorities Relevant Statutes Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires recipients of federal assistance to ensure that persons with LEP have meaningful access to such assistance. Additionally, Section 308 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (the Stafford Act, P.L. 93-288, as amended) requires the issuance of regulations ensuring the provision of disaster relief without discrimination, including based on English proficiency. In 2006, the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA, P.L. 109-295) amended the Stafford Act. It required the FEMA Administrator to (1) work with SLTTs to identify LEP populations and ensure that they are incorporated into the disaster planning process; (2) ensure that such populations could access disaster relief information, and (3) develop and maintain a database on successful language assistance programs that could be provided to SLTTs during an incident (42 U.S.C. §5196f). F EMA Regulations and Agency Notices FEMA issued regulations implementing statutory civil rights obligations for federal disaster relief at 44 C.F.R. §206.11 and 44 C.F.R. Part 7. Per these regulations, entities receiving most forms of FEMA assistance (e.g., SLTTs and nonprofits) may not discriminate against individuals on the basis of national origin, among other grounds, when administering such relief (LEP is not explicitly mentioned). FEMA may refuse or terminate financial assistance in cases of noncompliance. Additionally, neither federal personnel nor agencies may discriminate against individuals when providing federal disaster assistance. In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released guidance for agency components, including FEMA (2011 DHS Notice; 76 Federal Register 21755). The guidance (1) details federal assistance recipients' responsibilities to ensure access to individuals with LEP and (2) explains how DHS evaluates compliance. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) State and local agencies can send emergency alerts through FEMA's Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which distributes alerts via radio, television, cell phones, and other means. FEMA coordinates with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which regulates commercial broadcast and mobile service providers that elect to participate in emergency alerting. The FCC has adopted rules for the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which delivers alerts via television and radio (47 C.F.R. Part 11), and the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) system, used by mobile service providers to send alerts to cell phones (47 C.F.R. Part 10). FCC mandates that EAS broadcasters providing foreign language programming should transmit EAS announcements in the primary language of the EAS participant (47 C.F.R. § 11.55(c)(4)). The FCC also requires EAS participants to report actions taken or planned to reach non-English speaking audiences to help states acquire information on how best to disseminate multilingual alerts (47 C.F.R. §11.55(d)). In 2016, the FCC adopted WEA rules (47 C.F.R. § 10.480) requiring wireless service providers to transmit WEA alerts issued in Spanish or that contain Spanish-language characters, to cell phone users who specify Spanish as their preferred language. Local government officials and LEP stakeholders have urged the FCC to improve multilingual EAS and WEA alerting. In February 2023, a letter signed by 45 Members from both chambers of Congress urged the FCC to expand the number of WEA languages. In April 2023, the FCC adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would require providers that send WEA alerts to ensure mobile devices can translate alerts into the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the United States, and

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