Int. No. 1126
By Council Member Ung
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to requiring the department of health and mental hygiene to maintain a centralized system to track language access services at facilities that serve the public
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Title 17 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a new section 17-184.3 to read as follows:
§ 17-184.3 Language access services at facilities serving the public. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Facility. The term “facility” means any clinic or other facility operated by the department that provides services directly to members of the public.
Language access services. The term “language access services” means interpretation, translation, or other service provided to facilitate communication between a member of the public and facility staff where such member of the public has limited English proficiency.
b. Centralized language access tracking system. 1. The department shall develop and maintain a centralized electronic system to collect and track data regarding language access services provided at facilities. Such system shall, at minimum, include the following components:
(a) The preferred language of each member of the public, which shall be recorded by staff at the time of intake or service provision;
(b) Every instance where language access services are requested, including the language for which such services are requested;
(c) Every instance in which language access services are provided, including the type of service provided and the language in which such service is provided; and
(d) Every instance of an inability to provide language access services, including, but not limited to, the inability to procure interpretation or translation services, or the inability to provide any services in the requested language.
2. The department shall ensure that the system developed and maintained pursuant to this section is standardized and accessible across all facilities, and is integrated, to the extent practicable, into existing electronic health record or case management systems maintained by the department.
3. The department shall develop and administer guidance and training for facility staff on the collection and entry of language access services data required by this section.
c. Report. No later than 1 year after the effective date of the local law that added this section, and annually thereafter, the department shall submit to the mayor and the speaker of the council and post on its website a report on language access services. Such report shall include, at minimum:
1. The number of requests for language access services at facilities, disaggregated by language, type of service, and facility;
2. The number of instances in which language access services were provided, disaggregated by language, type of service, and facility;
3. The number of unsuccessful attempts to provide language access services at each facility, disaggregated by language, reason for inability to provide such services, and facility; and
4. Recommendations to improve access to language access services at each facility, and what resources or other support the department requires to act on such recommendations.
§ 2. This local law takes effect 180 days after it becomes law.
CP
LSR #22939
8/18/2026 1:42 PM