“A bill to remove linguistic barriers to participation in Gun Violence Prevention Strategies.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines 11 terms for purposes of the Act: (1) community-based organization (as defined in 34 U.S.C. 10251); (2) extreme risk protection order (i.e., a State or Tribal court order or warrant temporarily prohibiting an individual from possessing a firearm or requiring firearm surrender to reduce the risk of firearm-related death or injury); (3) firearm (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 921(a)(3)); (4) gun violence (i.e., mass shootings, firearm homicides or assaults, suicides, unintentional deaths or injuries, and related crime); (5) gun violence prevention strategy (i.e., programs, policies, or practices to reduce firearm-related violence, injuries, death, or crime in high-risk populations or settings); (6) individual with limited English proficiency; (7) language access (i.e., culturally competent language services to enhance access for such individuals); (8) limited English proficient population; (9) priority languages (i.e., at a minimum, the 10 most commonly spoken non-English languages in the United States, including Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Korean); (10) Secretary (i.e., Secretary of Health and Human Services); and (11) significant resource (i.e., agency materials critical for public education campaigns).
This section requires the Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services to ensure that significant public-facing resources of the Department of Justice and Department of Health and Human Services, respectively, related to gun violence prevention and firearm safety are competently translated into priority languages and provided in accessible formats. Such resources include (1) materials on extreme risk protection orders and safe gun storage; and (2) materials prepared using funds appropriated under division B of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (P.L. 117-159) for federal grant programs and activities supporting mental health services, crisis response, school-based mental health, and suicide prevention that were in effect as of enactment of that Act. The section further requires review of all translated materials by community-based organizations with demonstrated relationships to speakers of the relevant language for cultural competence and accessibility, with funding provided from appropriations under this Act.
This section amends the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) program (34 U.S.C. 10152)—which provides formula grants to states and units of local government to support criminal justice activities, including crisis intervention court proceedings such as extreme risk protection order (ERPO) programs—by (1) adding to the minimum requirements for ERPO programs a new subclause (V) mandating public outreach and education efforts that include meaningful engagement with community-based organizations serving limited English proficient (LEP) populations and translation of public-facing documents into any non-English language spoken by an LEP population constituting at least 3% or 500 individuals (whichever is less) of the population served or encountered; (2) requiring grant recipients to report on measures taken to comply with the new requirement; (3) directing the Attorney General to prioritize grant applications for ERPOs, state crisis intervention court proceedings, and other gun violence reduction efforts that demonstrate a targeted outreach plan for meaningful engagement with LEP populations; and (4) requiring the Attorney General to issue related guidance within 90 days of enactment.
This section directs the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Office of Justice Programs and in coordination with the Community-Based Violence Intervention and Prevention Initiative (CVIPI), to develop and implement a national public awareness campaign to increase language access to community-based gun violence prevention strategies—such as extreme risk protection orders—with a focus on outreach to limited English proficient populations. The campaign must include (1) in-language and culturally appropriate messaging disseminating scientific and evidence-based information and (2) dissemination of information on subgrants to community-based organizations educating professionals and community stakeholders. The campaign shall be coordinated with other federal, state, tribal, and local efforts, and the Attorney General must report to Congress on the use of appropriated funds.
This section directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in coordination with the Director of the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, to develop and implement a national public education campaign to increase awareness of CDC-supported gun violence prevention strategies and firearm safety programs—such as safe gun storage practices—with a focus on outreach to limited English proficient populations. The campaign must include (1) in-language and culturally appropriate messaging to disseminate scientific and evidence-based information on gun violence prevention and firearm safety, and (2) dissemination of information on subgrants to community-based organizations for educating professionals and community stakeholders. The campaign must be coordinated with other Federal, State, Tribal, and local efforts, as appropriate, and the Secretary must report to Congress on the use of appropriated funds.