After years of struggling to secure funding, state agencies have begun to take steps to implement language services — known as “language access plans” — for those with limited English proficiency as required by state and federal law. 

And the state now faces the opposite issue — agencies haven’t requested nearly as much spending to implement the plans as lawmakers approved.

State agencies have been required to have language access plans in place since the passage of SB318 in 2021. That bill mainly focused on ensuring that health districts had plans in place to ensure that people with limited English proficiency had access to services to restrain the spread of COVID-19, but also required each agency of the executive branch — boards, commissions, bureaus, councils and departments — to draft language access plans every two years. These plans can range from a few pages to more than a dozen, breaking down demographics of clients, specifics of implementation and budgetary implications. 

Until now, state agencies have complained that bureaucratic red tape and lack of adequate funding made it difficult to actually implement these plans — even though failing to do so is a violation of state law and the federal Civil Rights Act. 

To address that problem, lawmakers in 2023 passed AB480, which set aside $25 million from the state’s general fund for agencies to develop and publish language access plans. Those funds were made available this past July and agencies have until June 2025 to request money. 

“By requesting this funding, we now have the funds to go forward and implement these pieces of the plan,” said Ciara Ressel, the public information officer for Nevada’s Department of Agriculture.

Thirty percent of Nevadans speak a language other than English at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with most of those being Spanish speakers and those speaking “Asian and Pacific Island languages” trailing after. Sen. Fabian Doñate (D-Las Vegas), who sponsored the 2021 bill calling for language access plans, said he did so because he realized there was a large need for language access across governmental agencies that wasn’t being met. 

“I had to translate for my dad when he got diagnosed with diabetes. That has been my North Star for a very long time,” Doñate said. “There's no doubt in mind that there's also kids that have translated for their parents at the DMV or in other situations.” 

According to the Office of New Americans (ONA), which is responsible for approving state agencies’ language access plans, 97 state agencies and boards have begun to implement their programs. These language access plans include everything from the translation of documents to hiring in-house interpreters and gathering analytics about constituent demographics.

The ONA, a new and relatively small department that only has three employees, has faced delays in hiring the language access coordinator responsible for organizing such plans. Elena Guerra, the coordinator, didn’t assume her role until early 2024, although funding for the position was made available in October 2023. 

Meanwhile, the cost of language access programs can be surprisingly high. The Legislature’s Interim Finance Committee, for example, allocated Nevada’s Division of Welfare and Supportive Services more than $2.4 million for its language access plan, which includes adding American Sign Language interpretation services and providing translations on its website in Haitian Creole, Arabic, Mandarin, Russian and Farsi.

The rates for a translator can vary depending on the language or whether they are translating a document or providing live interpretation, but a minimum of 12 cents per word is recommended by the American Translators Association. In Nevada, court interpreters are paid a minimum of $49 per hour. 

But only about $5 million of the funds designated by AB480 have been appropriated so far, according to the ONA. If agencies don’t use those funds by mid-September, that remaining money is set to revert back to the state’s general fund.

Although no consistent funding has been set aside for language access plans in the future, many state agencies and the ONA say that the funds from the one-shot expenditure are enough to sustain their plans for the foreseeable future. 

The Department of Business and Industry, for example, which was allocated $200,000 for its language access plan, intends to use the funds to purchase automated translation technology that agency officials said would minimize the need to hire interpreters. The Division of Welfare and Supportive Services expects the translation of documents and its websites to be a one-time thing.  

Many agencies don’t even need to request funding as they have sufficient money in their budgets to implement the plans on their own, said ONA Director Iris Ramos.

“As of now, everything is going smoothly … So it's hard to say if we will have a problem along the way,” said Ramos.

Doñate and Ramos say that plans to seek out further funding are uncertain. Doñate, however, said that through the budgetary process, legislators can attempt to make sure that the funding doesn't revert back to the general fund and is used for future language access needs.