The Nevada Commission on Ethics on Jan. 16 adopted a language access plan designed to ensure statutory compliance with NRS 232.0081 and to improve the commission’s ability to serve Nevadans who do not speak English as a first language or who have communication access needs.

Executive Director Ross Armstrong said the plan follows a template from the governor’s Office of New Americans and lays out the commission’s purpose, an assessment of needs, and areas for improvement. Armstrong told the commission, “NRS 232.0081 requires agencies to have a language access plan,” and said the commission’s plan identifies Spanish, Tagalog and Chinese as the top non-English languages used in Nevada and proposes steps such as translating vital forms and making trainings and meeting captions available in additional languages.

The plan also includes funding the commission has approved to support the outreach and education officer’s training in American Sign Language and Spanish; Armstrong said staff will report back with specifics on the courses paid for by the commission. The commission discussed the potential cost of translating vital documents and noted prior research that estimated about $3,000 to translate selected materials into several languages.

The motion to adopt the plan carried on a voice vote; commissioners voted in favor and no opposed votes were recorded.

Why it matters: NRS 232.0081 obliges state agencies to plan for language access so that residents with limited English proficiency or communication disabilities can access government services. For the ethics commission — which provides outreach, complaint intake, advisory opinions and public hearings — the plan aims to expand access to information and to make public meetings more reachable to non-English speakers and people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Implementation and next steps: The plan calls for annual review (the commission indicated it will review annually even if statute allows a longer interval), targeted translation of vital forms and the ethics manual, options for requesting live translation for meetings, and follow-up reporting from staff on what courses were purchased for language training. The outreach lead also noted the commission will explore connections with state resources such as the Commission for Persons Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing and Communication Access Services at the Aging and Disability Services Division.

Public input: A member of the public posted a chat comment asking which funding sources paid for ASL training and whether the commission had coordinated with existing state resources; Armstrong responded that staff would report back with details and explore coordination.

No additional funding line items for office relocation or other budget requests were approved in the governor’s recommended budget during the Jan. 15 budget release; staff said modest funding requests for translation and education resources were included in the governor’s package and will be pursued in the legislative session.