A language access plan for public meetings doesn't need to be long. It needs to say which languages you serve, what you offer at each stage of a meeting, who does what, and how you check the work. This guide walks through each decision and ends with a language access plan template you can adapt.
What the plan should cover
Many agencies have a general language access policy for counters and phone lines. Meetings deserve their own section because they follow a cycle: notice, agenda, the live meeting, public comment and the record afterward. Each stage needs a decision.
A good plan answers five questions:
- Which languages, and how did we choose them?
- What do we offer in each language, at each stage?
- How do residents ask for more, such as an interpreter?
- Who is responsible for each task?
- How do we check quality and update the plan?
Before you start, ask your city attorney or county counsel which legal requirements apply to your agency, including Title VI, the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Act and, for eligible bodies, SB 707. The plan should reflect their advice. See language access compliance for local government in 2026.
Step 1: choose your languages
Start with American Community Survey data on residents who speak English less than "very well." If your council or board is an SB 707 eligible body, this same data determines your "applicable languages" for agenda translation, up to three.
Your plan can go further than the agenda minimum. Live translated captions, for example, can cover more languages than you translate agendas into. SentraCaptions supports up to 8 languages per meeting from a list of 75. Note any language you can't cover with a given tool; Hmong and Khmer, for instance, are not supported by SentraCaptions, so plan another route for those residents if they are part of your community.
For more on picking languages, see choosing translation languages.
Step 2: decide what you offer at each stage
Before the meeting
- Translated agendas (not the full packet) for SB 707 eligible bodies, posted with the English agenda, with instructions in each language for joining by phone or internet. Digital translation tools are allowed.
- A line on every agenda, in each language, explaining how to follow along in that language and how to request interpretation.
- Translated content on your public meetings webpage.
During the meeting
- Live captions and translated captions on a chamber screen, so residents in the room can follow along.
- A QR code that opens a phone page where residents read along in their language at their own text size, with no app or sign-in.
- A process for interpretation requests. SB 707 requires eligible bodies to reasonably assist members of the public who want to translate a meeting or receive interpretation, as long as it doesn't disrupt the meeting; it does not require the body to provide interpretation itself. Decide whether your agency will provide interpreters in some cases anyway.
- A plan for public comment in other languages. See public comment in more than one language.
After the meeting
- Transcripts in each language, or subtitle files for the posted video. Note that transcripts are not official minutes, though they can help staff prepare minutes.
Step 3: assign responsibilities
Name a role, not just a department, for each task:
- Who translates the agenda and checks it?
- Who starts captions and selects languages before each meeting?
- Who maintains the glossary of local names so captions spell council members, streets and programs correctly?
- Who handles interpretation requests and how fast?
- Who runs outreach?
Step 4: plan outreach
SB 707 asks eligible bodies to make reasonable efforts to reach communities that don't traditionally participate. A plan on paper doesn't help if residents don't know about it. List the channels you will use in each language, such as community organizations, social media, flyers at libraries and announcements at the start of meetings, and how often.
Step 5: check quality and review
Machine translation quality varies by language. Build in a fluent-speaker review for the languages that matter most: a staff member, a volunteer or a community partner who spot-checks translated agendas and reads captions during a meeting now and then. Record what they find and adjust your glossary.
Set a review date, such as once a year or when new American Community Survey data comes out, and track requests you received and could not meet.
A language access plan template
- Purpose and scope. Which bodies and meetings the plan covers.
- Legal basis. A short summary prepared or approved by counsel.
- Languages served. The data source, the languages chosen for agendas and for live captions, and any languages not covered and why.
- Services by stage. Notice, agenda, live meeting, public comment and records.
- Requests. How residents ask for interpretation or other help, and response times.
- Accessibility. How captions and accommodations such as CART for deaf or hard-of-hearing residents are handled.
- Roles. Who does each task.
- Outreach. Channels and schedule in each language.
- Quality review. Who reviews which languages and how often.
- Review and updates. Date of next review and who approves changes.
Keep it to a few pages so staff will actually use it.