Congresswoman Chu Leads Push for Federal Board to Enforce Language Access Standards

For Rep. Judy Chu, the fight over who gets to speak what language in America is personal — and four decades old.

As a young professor in the 1980s, Chu watched her adopted hometown of Monterey Park pass a city council resolution declaring that only English should be spoken in the city. She organized neighbors, gathered signatures, overturned the ordinance and ran for city council herself. Now the congresswoman who represents Pasadena and the San Gabriel Valley is waging that fight on a national scale.

Chu (CA-28), Chair Emerita of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, joined by Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), Chair of CAPAC, and Rep. Juan Vargas (CA-52), introduced the Language Access Board Act of 2026, a bill that would create an independent federal board composed of community leaders and federal agency officials to develop, implement and enforce language access standards across the federal government. Sen. Alex Padilla of California is leading a companion bill in the Senate, according to a press release from Chu’s office.

The legislation is a direct response to Executive Order 14224, signed by President Trump on March 1, 2025, which declared English the official language of the United States and revoked Executive Order 13166 — a Clinton-era mandate, renewed under both Republican and Democratic administrations for 25 years, that required federal agencies and recipients of federal funding to provide language services to individuals with limited English proficiency.

The Trump administration’s Department of Justice followed with guidance directing agencies to minimize multilingual services and redirect resources toward English-language education and assimilation, according to a DOJ memorandum issued in July 2025.

The consequences have been tangible. In 2025, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it was going “English-only,” the IRS began considering rollbacks to multilingual taxpayer services, and the Small Business Administration removed non-English webpages from its website, according to the press release from Chu’s office. The federal website LEP.gov, which served as a central repository for language access resources, was also removed.

In Pasadena, where more than 44 percent of the population speaks a language other than English at home — with Spanish the most widely spoken after English, followed by Asian and Pacific Island languages, according to city budget documents citing American Community Survey data — the stakes are immediate. Chu’s 28th Congressional District, which stretches from Pasadena through the west San Gabriel Valley, is among the most linguistically diverse in the nation, with one of the highest percentages of Asian American residents in California.

“Being able to access federal services, regardless of the language you speak, is a civil right,” Chu said in the press release. “Millions of Americans, especially in our immigrant communities, depend on translation support to apply for a loan, enroll in Medicare, or even access disaster relief resources.”

The bill would establish an independent board to enforce language access guidance and regulations across all federal agencies and departments; require the board to establish, maintain and provide technical assistance and training on language access standards for public-facing resources and materials; ensure that individual complaints about agencies failing to adhere to language access requirements are processed and investigated; and conduct a study on existing language access laws and best practices, according to the press release.

The legislation builds on an earlier companion bill, the Language Access for All Act of 2026, which Chu, Meng, Vargas and Rep. Dan Goldman introduced in January to codify the language access requirements of Executive Order 13166 into permanent law. That bill was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

“Every American should be able to access federal services and programs in a language they can understand,” Meng said in the press release. “CAPAC will not stand for this. The Language Access Board Act of 2026 will help combat these discriminatory policies and protect translation services for individuals with limited English proficiency, including millions of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.”

Vargas said in the press release that federal language access services have for decades helped millions of people file taxes, receive emergency alerts, apply for loans and access health care. “No one should be locked out of federal programs because of the language they speak,” Vargas said.

Asian Americans face some of the highest language access needs of any racial group, with 32 percent having limited English proficiency, according to the press release, citing U.S. Census data. About 12 percent of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders also face significant language barriers. Nearly 40 percent of Spanish-language speakers reported speaking English “less than very well,” according to the most recent Census figures.

The bill drew endorsements from dozens of organizations, including the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, the National Immigration Law Center, UnidosUS, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, the Japanese American Citizens League and the Thai Community Development Center, among others.

Jo Ann Paanio, policy director of the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans, said in the press release that when language access services fall short, individuals and families are unable to obtain vital services. The AANHPI community spans more than 50 ethnicities with more than 100 languages and dialects, Paanio said, and language access services should reflect that diversity.

Priya Purandare, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association, said in the press release that the organization has long championed linguistic access for AANHPI communities in the legal system and called the bill an important step toward ensuring that every federal agency meets the needs of individuals with limited English proficiency.

Padilla, in a statement included in the press release, called the administration’s effort to declare English the national language “fundamentally un-American.”

“Access to critical government programs and services must never be dependent on your ability to speak a language,” Padilla said.

The bill is also cosponsored by Reps. Dan Goldman, Frederica Wilson, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ted Lieu, Rashida Tlaib, Al Green, Darren Soto, Tim Kennedy and Lou Correa, according to the press release.

Chu’s office noted that in 2025, she led more than 50 House Democrats in multiple oversight letters opposing the implementation of Executive Order 14224. Earlier in April 2026, Chu, Meng, Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Padilla introduced a resolution recognizing April as “National Language Access Month.”

Four decades after she helped overturn an English-only ordinance in Monterey Park, Chu is still making the same argument — just on a bigger stage.