IV. Public Participation Requirements and Language Access

      Many state and federal laws require enhanced public participation for particular programs or activities.  State agencies may also have internal regulations that require or encourage provision of language access to facilitate public participation. For example, the California Natural Resources Agency, which oversees the Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), deems public participation and comment during any environmental review process an “essential part of the CEQA

      The CEQA regulations do not mention language access; however, providing language access in some circumstances may be the only way to facilitate public participation.  A community group in Kettleman City, for example, successfully sued Kings County to prevent the construction of a waste disposal facility in an area of a 40% Latino, LEP population. The community group opposed the project, citing health hazards. They claimed that their ability to participate in the CEQA review process was hampered because the county failed to provide translations of documents, and then refused to allow residents and their interpreters sufficient time and opportunity to speak at the public hearings. In ruling for the community groups, a California judge stated that “[the residents'] meaningful involvement in the CEQA review process was effectively precluded by the absence of the Spanish translation.”