Language Access Board Act of 2026

Key Points

• The bill creates a new 32-member Language Access Board within the federal government. Half the members would be public experts appointed by the president, and the other half would be heads (or senior designees) of 16 major federal departments and agencies, including Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and the Social Security Administration.
• Federal agencies would be required to make their public-facing resources, including forms, websites, and notices, accessible to people with limited English proficiency in a way that is comparable to access for English speakers, unless doing so would create an undue burden.
• Anyone with limited English proficiency, or an organization acting on their behalf, could file a complaint with the Board if a federal agency fails to meet the new language access standards. The Board could then investigate, develop corrective action plans, issue compliance orders, and even bring civil lawsuits to enforce those orders.
• Every federal agency must evaluate its own language access every two years, report findings to Congress and the Board, and then take steps within 60 days to improve accessibility based on what they find.
• The Board must complete a study within two years of enactment on the barriers people with limited English face when trying to access federal programs, including the use of machine translation and artificial intelligence by agencies, and the costs of failing to provide accessible services.

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Related Bills

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