Executive Order 13166

Wednesday,
August 16, 2000

Part V

The President
Executive Order 13166—Improving Access
to Services for Persons With Limited
English Proficiency

Department of
Justice
Enforcement of Title VI of the Civil
Rights Act of 1964—National Origin
Discrimination Against Persons With
Limited English Proficiency; Notice

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50121

Presidential Documents

Federal Register
Vol. 65, No. 159
Wednesday, August 16, 2000

Title 3—

Executive Order 13166 of August 11, 2000

The President

Improving Access to Services for Persons With Limited
English Proficiency
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the
laws of the United States of America, and to improve access to federally
conducted and federally assisted programs and activities for persons who,
as a result of national origin, are limited in their English proficiency (LEP),
it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. Goals.
The Federal Government provides and funds an array of services that
can be made accessible to otherwise eligible persons who are not proficient
in the English language. The Federal Government is committed to improving
the accessibility of these services to eligible LEP persons, a goal that reinforces
its equally important commitment to promoting programs and activities designed to help individuals learn English. To this end, each Federal agency
shall examine the services it provides and develop and implement a system
by which LEP persons can meaningfully access those services consistent
with, and without unduly burdening, the fundamental mission of the agency.
Each Federal agency shall also work to ensure that recipients of Federal
financial assistance (recipients) provide meaningful access to their LEP applicants and beneficiaries. To assist the agencies with this endeavor, the Department of Justice has today issued a general guidance document (LEP Guidance), which sets forth the compliance standards that recipients must follow
to ensure that the programs and activities they normally provide in English
are accessible to LEP persons and thus do not discriminate on the basis
of national origin in violation of title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
as amended, and its implementing regulations. As described in the LEP
Guidance, recipients must take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access
to their programs and activities by LEP persons.
Sec. 2. Federally Conducted Programs and Activities.
Each Federal agency shall prepare a plan to improve access to its federally
conducted programs and activities by eligible LEP persons. Each plan shall
be consistent with the standards set forth in the LEP Guidance, and shall
include the steps the agency will take to ensure that eligible LEP persons
can meaningfully access the agency’s programs and activities. Agencies shall
develop and begin to implement these plans within 120 days of the date
of this order, and shall send copies of their plans to the Department of
Justice, which shall serve as the central repository of the agencies’ plans.
Sec. 3. Federally Assisted Programs and Activities.
Each agency providing Federal financial assistance shall draft title VI
guidance specifically tailored to its recipients that is consistent with the
LEP Guidance issued by the Department of Justice. This agency-specific
guidance shall detail how the general standards established in the LEP
Guidance will be applied to the agency’s recipients. The agency-specific
guidance shall take into account the types of services provided by the
recipients, the individuals served by the recipients, and other factors set
out in the LEP Guidance. Agencies that already have developed title VI
guidance that the Department of Justice determines is consistent with the
LEP Guidance shall examine their existing guidance, as well as their programs
and activities, to determine if additional guidance is necessary to comply
with this order. The Department of Justice shall consult with the agencies
in creating their guidance and, within 120 days of the date of this order,

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Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 159 / Wednesday, August 16, 2000 / Presidential Documents
each agency shall submit its specific guidance to the Department of Justice
for review and approval. Following approval by the Department of Justice,
each agency shall publish its guidance document in the Federal Register
for public comment.
Sec. 4. Consultations.
In carrying out this order, agencies shall ensure that stakeholders, such
as LEP persons and their representative organizations, recipients, and other
appropriate individuals or entities, have an adequate opportunity to provide
input. Agencies will evaluate the particular needs of the LEP persons they
and their recipients serve and the burdens of compliance on the agency
and its recipients. This input from stakeholders will assist the agencies
in developing an approach to ensuring meaningful access by LEP persons
that is practical and effective, fiscally responsible, responsive to the particular
circumstances of each agency, and can be readily implemented.
Sec. 5. Judicial Review.
This order is intended only to improve the internal management of the
executive branch and does not create any right or benefit, substantive or
procedural, enforceable at law or equity by a party against the United States,
its agencies, its officers or employees, or any person.

œ–
THE WHITE HOUSE,
August 11, 2000.
[FR Doc. 00–20938
Filed 8–15–00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195–01–P

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