Professions and vocations: license examinations: interpreters.

Existing law establishes the Department of Consumer Affairs, which is composed of various boards that license and regulate various professions. This bill would require various boards under the jurisdiction of the Department of Consumer Affairs, by January 1, 2027, to include an additional section in a license application for an applicant to identify their preferred written, spoken, and signed languages. The bill would require each board, beginning on July 1, 2027, to conduct an annual review of applicants' language preferences, and, by July 1, 2027, to also determine whether there is a substantial number of non-English-speaking applicants, as defined, who require the services of an interpreter. The bill would require each board to report the determinations to the Legislature by January 1, 2028, and, beginning January 1, 2029, to annually report to specified legislative committees on the language preference data collected from license applications.