Public hearings are where residents come to speak on a specific decision, such as a rezoning, a rate change or a new project down the street, and they're often the meetings where language barriers hurt most. This guide covers public hearing translation options, when a public hearing interpreter makes sense, and how to prepare so residents can follow along and take part.
Why hearings need extra planning
A routine meeting may draw a handful of speakers. A hearing on a controversial item can fill the room with residents who rarely attend, some of whom are more comfortable in a language other than English. They need to understand three things: what's being decided, what staff and applicants are saying, and how to speak during public comment.
Hearings also tend to use technical language: setbacks, variances, environmental review, rate structures. That makes both captioning and translation harder, so preparation matters more than usual.
Translated captions vs. a public hearing interpreter
It helps to be clear about terms. Translation is written or text; captions are text, so translated captions are translation. Interpretation is spoken, usually by a human interpreter working simultaneously or consecutively.
SentraCaptions provides text: English captions and translated captions in up to eight languages per meeting. It does not provide spoken (audio) interpretation. The two can work side by side:
- Translated captions let residents read along in the room on the chamber screen, or on their own phone by scanning a QR code, with no app or sign-in. They cover the whole hearing, every speaker, as it happens.
- A human interpreter helps residents who prefer to listen, or who want to speak at the podium in a language other than English or Spanish and be understood by the board.
Speech recognition is English, with Spanish speakers at public comment recognized too. If a resident speaks in another language, their words won't be captioned in that language; an interpreter can help in that moment.
Under SB 707, eligible legislative bodies must "reasonably assist" members of the public who want to translate a meeting or receive interpretation, as long as it doesn't disrupt the meeting. They aren't required to provide interpretation themselves. Translated captions are a practical way to support that goal, and SB 707 does not itself require live captions. Check with your city attorney or county counsel about your obligations for a particular hearing.
A checklist for hearing night
One to two weeks before
- Review who is likely to attend. Ask the project planner or community liaison which languages residents near the site use.
- Choose caption languages for this meeting. You can add languages for a single hearing without changing your regular setup.
- Decide whether to arrange a human interpreter for speakers, and announce how residents can request one.
- Add hearing-specific terms to your glossary: the project name, applicant name, street names and neighborhood names.
- Include instructions for the phone page in your hearing notice and on your public meetings webpage.
On the day
- Test the audio at the podium and staff table. Clear microphone audio helps recognition.
- Confirm the chamber screen shows the languages you selected, the meeting title and the QR code.
- Place printed QR code signs at the entrance and in overflow seating.
- Ask the chair to mention the captions and phone page when opening the hearing.
During the hearing
- Remind speakers to talk into the microphone and state their name.
- If the body recesses or goes into closed session, pause captions. While paused, nothing is captioned, translated, stored or billed, and screens show "Paused."
- Keep someone on staff watching the phone page so problems are caught early.
Quality and expectations
Captions appear about one second after speech, and the sentence in progress updates live. Translation quality varies by language, so ask a fluent speaker to review the languages that matter most before a major hearing. Every screen labels captions as automatic and says they may contain errors.
If a deaf or hard-of-hearing resident requests CART, a human stenographer captioning live, as an accommodation, the agency should consider that request. Automatic captions don't replace CART in every situation.
After the hearing
Transcripts are available in every language as TXT or SRT files. They help in several ways:
- Staff can use them to help prepare minutes and staff reports. Transcripts are not official minutes.
- An SRT file can be posted with the hearing video as subtitles.
- Residents who couldn't attend can read what was said in their language.
Ask counsel how transcripts fit into your records retention practices.