Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández has introduced the HABLA Act, a bill to ensure multilingual access to government services. Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Ed Case (D-HI), Derek Tran (D-CA), and Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM) are cosponsors of the bill.
President Trump produced an executive order naming English as the official language of the United States, and a bill confirming this has been introduced by Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) that has 11 cosponsors.
The United States has not previously had an official language, but many bills of this kind have been introduced in the past. The bill specified that it does not apply to documents or actions relating to national security, international relations, trade, tourism, public health and safety, protection of rights in criminal cases, or commerce. It also states that applications of the bill must be consistent with the U.S. Constitution, which does not mention languages.
President Clinton issued Executive Order 13166 in 2000. This order, “Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency,” required federal agencies to take reasonable steps to ensure that individuals with limited English proficiency could access government services. LEP.gov, the website detailing government efforts to provide assistance to people with limited English proficiency, had a web page showing Executive Order 13166, but the page now bears the message, “Access denied.”
The HABLA Act text is not yet publicly available.
Trump’s executive order essentially revokes Executive Order 13166; however, as LEP.gov points out, “The new Executive Order does not ‘require or direct any change in the services provided by any agency.’”
What’s the current law?
Since the new executive order does not require any changes but leaves it up to individual agencies to decide how much to accommodate people with limited English, it is not entirely clear what the current law requires. However, as the Health Law Program points out, “Despite the new executive order and the rescission of EO 13166, language access remains the law. Both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibit discrimination on the basis of ‘national origin’ which the Supreme Court and HHS have interpreted as including language.”
A commenter at X made this point in response to the resident commissioner’s announcement of the act.
Nonetheless, the HABLA Act could clarify and strengthen those laws as Executive Order 13166 did. In fact, the resident commissioner’s announcement makes it clear that the HABLA Act is designed to make the requirements of Executive Order 13166 law. “Government works best when people can understand it. This bill makes sure language isn’t a barrier to accessing basic services – because when communication is clear, services run more smoothly, wait times drop, and agencies work more efficiently,” said Resident Commissioner Hernández. “At a time when the federal government is under intense scrutiny for fraud and abuse, making it more accessible to every person across all 50 states and territories is just common sense.”
Hernandez also noted that the National Weather Service, dealing with significant cuts, has announced that it will discontinue translations of emergency weather alerts. With hurricane season approaching, the consequences of this decision could be severe. Hernandez mentions this as an example of the kinds of problems that could arise if agencies are no longer required to meet the needs of people with limited English.
I bet Puerto Rico exempts itself from the ACT. What a world-class hypocrite. I am sick and tired, and I myself am Puerto Rican American… I’m sick and tired of these damn hypocrites demanding bilingual services to enable Spanish speakers well blatantly refusing to do the same for English speakers in Puerto Rico. The fake island with the “two languages” never ever has any public service announcements in English and Spanish. Always exclusively Spanish. Outside US Federal property you would never find anything in English in Puerto Rico. Yeah they got the balls to light a congress whenever the statehood issue comes up claiming English is ” already an official language.”
Congress needs to impose English as the controlling language Puerto Rico and see what the “hipocritas” do. If they remain loyal, grant them their us statehood. If they become rebellious and an independence movement gains the majority of the island, cut them loose and ban immigration from Puerto Rico tell the Unfaithful treasonous generation dies off. Basta con la mierda. Enough with the crap enough is enough.
tienes que aguantar presión en Puerto Rico se habla español. If it doesn’t suit you, leave and return only when you’ve changed your mind, or don’t go to Puerto Rico so you won’t have to listen to them speaking Spanish. By the way, English isn’t even an American language, it’s from Germany.