[§371-36]  Executive director of the officeof language access; duties.  There is established within the department oflabor and industrial relations, for administrative purposes only, an office oflanguage access.  The head of the office shall be known as the executivedirector of the office of language access, hereinafter referred to as executivedirector.  The executive director shall be appointed by the governor withoutregard to chapter 76.  The executive director shall:

(1)  Provide oversight, central coordination, andtechnical assistance to state agencies in their implementation of languageaccess requirements under this part or under any other law, regulation, orguidance;

(2)  Provide technical assistance to covered entitiesin their implementation of this part;

(3)  Review and monitor each state agency's languageaccess plan for compliance with this part;

(4)  Where reasonable access is not provided, endeavorto eliminate the barrier using informal methods such as conference,conciliation, mediation, or persuasion.  Where the language access barriercannot be eliminated by informal methods, the executive director shall submit awritten report with the executive director's opinion and recommendation to thestate agency or the covered entity.  The executive director may request thestate agency or the covered entity to notify the executive director, within aspecified time, of any action taken on the executive director's recommendation;

(5)  Consult with language access coordinators, thelanguage access advisory council, and department directors or their equivalent;

(6)  Subject to section 371-33, create, distribute tothe State, and make available to covered entities multilingual signage in themore frequently encountered languages in the State, and other languages asneeded, informing individuals of their right to free oral language services andinviting them to identify themselves as persons needing services; and

(7)  Adopt rules pursuant to chapter 91 to address thelanguage needs of limited English proficient persons. [L 2006, c 290, pt of §1]