Equal services for non-English speakers
One in five Californians have limited English proficiency, including over 4.3 million Spanish speakers and 1.5 million
speakers of Asian languages. With more than 40% of Californians over five years of age speaking a language other than
English at home, state and local governments must work hard to guarantee that public information and essential services
are available to all state residents.
As an immigrant himself, and as a public servant representing one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the
state, Leland Yee understands the challenges that face Californians with limited English language skills. That’s why Yee
has worked hard to guarantee that a person’s language ability never limits the services and information to which they are
entitled.
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| Prohibiting Child Interpreters. Fighting to require hospitals to provide adult language interpreters and end
the use of children as interpreters in cases involving domestic violence, terminal illness and other age-inappropriate
circumstances
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| Bilingual Staffing. Passed legislation requiring state and local agencies who serve a substantial number of
non-English speakers to provide qualified bilingual staff in public contact positions
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| Asian Language Equality. Helped pass law adding four languages – Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean
– to a law requiring translations into the original language of contracts negotiated in that language.
Also co-authored bill extending consumer protections currently available to Spanish-speaking individuals to include
Asian language and other non-English speakers
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| Language in Patient Records. Passed a law requiring that a patient’s primary spoken language be listed on their
medical records, helping improve access to quality care for non-English speakers across California
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| Managed Health Care Language Assistance. Helped pass legislation ensuring managed health care enrollees have access
to language assistance for all health care services
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| Monolingual Workers. Worked with the Unemployment Insurance Commission to extend benefits to monolingual workers
at two major employers so the workers could receive the pay they were owed when the company declared bankruptcy
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| English Immersion. Helped pass the Education WORKS! Bill, which funds highly effective English Immersion programs and
includes Functional Context English and Vocational ESL programs
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| Bilingual Emergency and Safety Officers. As a San Francisco Supervisor, worked with police and fire chiefs to ensure
that there were bilingual officers in areas with large concentrations of non-English speakers, sought to improve the
multi-lingual capacity of the City’s 911 system, and worked to guarantee all city departments offered services and materials
in various languages to reflect San Francisco’s linguistic and cultural diversity
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