San Francisco Language Access Ordinance

Governance and Policy

Departments must submit an Annual Compliance Report to OCEIA by October 1 each year using data from the prior fiscal year. Required report elements include the department’s language access policy, language services offered, number and percentage of LEP service users, bilingual employee roster, language access coordinator contact information, telephone-based interpretation usage, procedures for communicating with LEP persons, employee training and quality control strategy, translated materials, written policies, annual goals, assessment of prior-year goals, language access expenditures, budget information, and changes from the prior report. OCEIA must submit an annual citywide Language Access Ordinance Summary Report to the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, and Immigrant Rights Commission by February 1, including complaint data and citywide LEP language determinations, with key findings and recommendations translated into required languages.

The ordinance does not establish a single centralized training curriculum, but it requires departments to include an ongoing employee development and training strategy in their Annual Compliance Reports. That strategy must address maintaining well-trained bilingual employees and general staff, quality control protocols for bilingual employees, and language service protocols for LEP persons in crisis situations.

OCEIA is responsible for accepting, investigating, and resolving complaints alleging violations of the Language Access Ordinance. Complaints may be submitted by completing a complaint form, calling OCEIA and speaking with staff who document the complaint, or designating another person or entity to submit the complaint on the complainant’s behalf. OCEIA must notify the relevant department within five days, begin an investigation, and resolve complaints within 30 days unless there is good cause for an extension. Departments, City boards, commissions, and advisory bodies must forward language access complaints to OCEIA and cooperate with the investigation.

The ordinance creates a citywide language access operating framework for public-facing departments. It requires departments to provide the same level of service to limited-English proficient people as they provide to English speakers, maintain bilingual employee capacity for public contact or public information roles, and keep an up-to-date list of bilingual employees and languages offered. It also requires translation of vital written materials, including applications, benefit and eligibility notices, appeal rights, notices of free language assistance, public program materials, complaint forms, and other documents connected to direct public services. Additional operational requirements cover translated signage, language access at public meetings and hearings with advance request, multilingual recorded phone messages, and language access protocols during crisis situations.

The ordinance is structured around “substantial” and “concentrated” language populations rather than a fixed list of languages only. It references San Francisco’s multilingual population and identifies Chinese, Spanish, and Tagalog as languages with at least 10, 000 limited-English speakers at the time of the ordinance record, while also noting Russian and Vietnamese among significant language groups. Departments must assess language needs using service-population data, facility-level data, intake information, public-contact surveys, or telephonic interpretation request data.