Relates to the powers of the head of the office of mental health and the head of the office for people with developmental disabilities to promulgate rules regarding communications needs of non-English speakers seeking or receiving services; includes the provision of language services and documents in English and the twelve most common non-English languages spoken by individuals in New York State based on United States census data.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
11023
I N A S S E M B L Y
April 22, 2026
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Mental Health
AN ACT to amend the mental hygiene law, in relation to the powers of the
head of the office of mental health and the head of the office for
people with developmental disabilities to promulgate rules regarding
communications needs of non-English speaking individuals
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivision (h) of section 7.09 of the mental hygiene law,
as added by chapter 301 of the laws of 1994 and relettered by section 2
of part I of chapter 58 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as
follows:
(h) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to address
the LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES AND communications needs of non-English
speaking individuals seeking or receiving services in facilities oper-
ated or licensed by the office in order to facilitate their access to
services. Such rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited
to, DOCUMENTS, FORMS AND MATERIALS BEING AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND THE
TWELVE MOST COMMON NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY INDIVIDUALS IN NEW
YORK STATE BASED ON UNITED STATES CENSUS DATA, AND OTHER reasonable
means to accommodate the language capabilities and preferences of non-
English speaking individuals in such facilities where a significant
number of non-English speaking individuals seek or receive services.
§ 2. Subdivision (e) of section 13.09 of the mental hygiene law, as
added by chapter 301 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as
follows:
(e) The commissioner shall promulgate rules and regulations to address
the LANGUAGE ASSISTANCE SERVICES AND communications needs of non-English
speaking individuals seeking or receiving services in facilities oper-
ated or licensed by the office in order to facilitate their access to
services. Such rules and regulations shall include, but not be limited
to, DOCUMENTS, FORMS, AND MATERIALS BEING AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND THE
TWELVE MOST COMMON NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY INDIVIDUALS IN NEW
YORK STATE BASED ON UNITED STATES CENSUS DATA, AND OTHER reasonable
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
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