Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman YVONNE LOPEZ
District 19 (Middlesex)
Assemblyman REGINALD W. ATKINS
District 20 (Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires each State cabinet level department to establish an office dedicated to language and disability access.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning cabinet level departments in the State and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Each cabinet level department in the State shall establish a division to address potential barriers and gaps in language and disability access in order to support full inclusion and equal opportunity for persons with disabilities who work for, or receive services from, the department. The administrator and head of the division shall be a person qualified by training and experience to perform the duties of the division and shall devote his or her entire time to the performance of those duties.
b. The division shall be responsible for:
(1) developing a language and disability access plan reflecting the principles of full inclusion and equal access for persons with disabilities who work for, or receive services from, the department in which the division is established in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.;
(2) implementing and coordinating the use of strategies, identified by the language and disability access plan developed in paragraph (1) of this subsection, for effective communication, including but not limited to, language interpretation, sign language interpretation, and language translation for persons who are blind, low vision, deaf, or hard of hearing, and program accessibility, physical accessibility, and reasonable accommodations and modifications for persons with physical disabilities; and
(3) providing an annual report to the commissioner of the department in which the division is established and the public on the department's progress in removing barriers and gaps in language and disability access for persons with disabilities who work for, or receive services from, the department.
2. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month next following the date of enactment, but each cabinet level department shall take such anticipatory administrative action in advance thereof as shall be necessary for the implementation of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill requires each cabinet level department in the State to establish a division to address potential barriers and gaps in language and disability access in order to support full inclusion and equal opportunity for persons with disabilities who work for, or receive services from, the department. The division administrator and head will be qualified by training and experience to perform the duties of the division and is to devote his or her entire time to the performance of those duties.
The division is to be responsible for the following: developing a language and disability access plan reflecting the principles of full inclusion and equal access for persons with disabilities who work for, or receive services from, the department in which the division is established in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq.; implementing and coordinating the use of strategies, identified by the language and disability access plan, for effective communication, including but not limited to, language interpretation, sign language interpretation, and language translation for persons who are blind, low vision, deaf, or hard of hearing, and program accessibility, physical accessibility, and reasonable accommodations and modifications for persons with physical disabilities; and providing an annual report to the commissioner of the department in which the division is established, and the public on the department's progress in removing barriers and gaps in language and disability access for persons with disabilities who work for, or receive services from, the department.