title
A MOTION acknowledging receipt of a report on a countywide action plan to engage and increase access to King County government services and operations for limited English proficiency populations in compliance with the 2014 Annual Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17695, Section 18, Proviso P3, as amended.
body
WHEREAS, the 2014 Annual Budget Ordinance, Ordinance 17695, Section 18, Proviso P3, as amended, related to engaging limited English proficiency ("LEP") populations, states that $100,000 should not be expended or encumbered until the executive transmits a report and motion, by June 30, 2014, on an action plan to engage and increase access to King County government services and operations for LEP populations, and
WHEREAS, more than one hundred seventy different languages are spoken in King County and one-quarter of the county's population, which is over four hundred fifty thousand residents, speak a language other than English at home, and
WHEREAS, about eleven percent of county residents over the age of five, which is nearly two hundred thousand people, live in "linguistic isolation," meaning that they speak a language other than English and no one in their households over the age of five speaks English very well, and
WHEREAS the Washington state and King County populations are becoming increasingly racially and ethnically diverse and Washington is among the states with the highest growth rates of LEP populations and with the largest LEP populations, and much of that growth is concentrated in and around the King County area, and
WHEREAS, the language barriers faced by LEP populations can impede effective and accurate communication and inhibit, or even prohibit, LEP populations from either accessing or understanding, or both, important rights, obligations and availability of public sector services, including those provided by King County, and
WHEREAS, K.C.C. 2.10.200 through 2.10.230 calls out the county's LEP populations as one of the most ma...
Click here for full text