Washington, D.C., August 12, 2024—Yesterday marked the twenty-fourth anniversary of Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency. At its core, the Executive Order acknowledges a fundamental principle: that the federal government must be able to understand and communicate with all people in the United States, including those with limited English proficiency, to keep our country and communities safe and prosperous. 

Communication is critical to our mission. For over two decades, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) has worked in partnership with the Department of Justice and stakeholders to eliminate language barriers to federal programs. In emergencies, healthcare and the justice system, misunderstandings can lead to tragic consequences. Indeed, communicating with and understanding people with limited English proficiency is critical to enforcing the law, protecting the environment, providing housing or food assistance, promoting student achievement, ensuring public health, and upholding economic prosperity and justice. When government agencies provide, for example, translations of vital documents or offer an interpreter during important conversations or hearings, we enhance the effectiveness of federal and federally funded programs and services, ensuring they reach and benefit all intended communities.  

Our agency remains steadfast in its commitment to ensure that federal programs remain open to all, regardless of a person’s English proficiency. Together with over forty federal agencies that have revised or are revising their language access plans, we have prioritized learning about and urging agencies to adopt effective policies and procedures to eliminate language barriers to federal programs. For example: 

• In Recommendation 2023-4, Online Processes in Agency Adjudication, ACUS urged agencies to “make user resources [related to online portals] available in languages other than English.”  

• In Recommendation 2023-7, Improving Timeliness in Agency Adjudication, ACUS urged agencies to provide information materials in languages other than English to parties and representatives navigate agency adjudication processes, understand procedural alternatives that may expedite decision making, and learn about best practices for efficient and effective advocacy before the agency. 

• In Recommendation 2023-6, Identifying and Reducing Burdens on the Public In Administrative Processes, ACUS urged agencies to “periodically review their administrative processes to identify opportunity to simplify them by . . . [e]xpanding access to persons with limited English proficiency.” 

• In Recommendation 2023-5, Best Practices for Adjudication Not Involving an Evidentiary Hearing, ACUS urged agencies to make opportunities for parties to furnish decision makers with evidence and arguments “available in a manner that permits . . . people with limited English proficiency to take advantage of them.”  

• Between December 2022 and December 2023, ACUS partnered with the Legal Services Corporations on a series of webinars, Assisting Parties in Federal Administrative Adjudication. As ACUS Chair Andrew Fois noted, reforms to improve access to legal assistance are particularly important to members of traditionally underserved communities, including individuals with limited English proficiency.   

• In Recommendation 2021-4, Virtual Hearings in Agency Adjudication, ACUS urged agencies to consider whether the use of virtual hearings “would create a barrier to access for . . . individuals with limited English proficiency.” 

• In Recommendation 2018-5, Agency Innovations in E-Rulemaking, ACUS urged agencies to “take steps to improve access for persons who have faced barriers to effectively participating in rulemaking in the past, including non-English speakers.” 

• In Recommendation 2016-6, Self-Represented Parties in Administrative Proceedings, ACUS urged agencies to provide training to federal agency adjudicators that addresses “interacting with self-represented parties in situations of limited literacy or English proficiency.” 

"Everyone at ACUS is happy to acknowledge the anniversary of this important executive action," ACUS Chair Andrew Fois said. "Making federal administrative actions accessible to all Americans, including those with limited English proficiency, is a basic principle of government and one which ACUS has consistently sought to ensure. We will continue to work to achieve this goal for the next 24 years and beyond."  

In the coming year, we will continue to engage with our partners on the Federal Language Access Working Group (FedLAWG) led by the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. As a member of the FedLAWG, we learn and share information about conducting effective language access staff training; recruiting, assessing, hiring, and retaining multilingual staff; contracting for qualified translators and interpreters; and using technology to deliver accurate and reliable language assistance services. Through this unified approach our agency seeks to fulfill the promise of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 13166 in preventing discrimination and ensuring equal treatment under the law.   

About ACUS  

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent, non-partisan federal agency within the executive branch dedicated to improving administrative law and federal regulatory processes. It conducts applied research, and provides expert recommendations and other advice, to improve federal agency procedures. Its membership is composed of senior federal officials, academics, and other experts from the private sector. Since 1968, ACUS has issued hundreds of recommendations, published reports and reference guides, and organized forums to improve the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of administrative processes such as rulemaking and adjudication. Many have resulted in reforms by federal agencies, the President, Congress, and the Judicial Conference of the United States. Learn more at www.acus.gov.  

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