Int 0723-2015

Be it enacted by the Council as follows: Section 1. Paragraph one of subdivision f of section 15 of the New York city charter, as amended by local law number 132 for the year 2013, is amended to read as follows: f. 1. The office of operations shall develop a business owner's bill of rights. The bill of rights shall be in the form of a written document, drafted in plain language, that advises business owners of their rights as they relate to agency inspections. Such written document shall include translations of the bill of rights into at least the six languages most commonly spoken by limited English proficient individuals, as those languages are determined by the department of city planning. The bill of rights shall include, but not be limited to, notice of every business owner's right to: i) consistent enforcement of agency rules; ii) compliment or complain about an inspector or inspectors, and information sufficient to allow a business owner to do so; iii) contest a notice of violation before the relevant local tribunal, if any; iv) an inspector who behaves in a professional and courteous manner; v) an inspector who can answer reasonable questions relating to the inspection, or promptly makes an appropriate referral; vi) an inspector with a sound knowledge of the applicable laws, rules and regulations; vii) access information in languages other than English; and viii) request language interpretation services for agency inspections of the business. � 2. Paragraph one of subdivision g of section 15 of the New York city charter, as added by local law 33 for the year 2013, is amended to read as follows: g. 1. The office of operations shall develop a standardized customer service training curriculum to be used, to the extent practicable, by relevant agencies for training agency inspectors. Such training shall include specific protocols for such inspectors to follow when interacting with non-English speakers to ensure that such inspectors provide language translation services during inspections. Such training shall also include culturally competent instruction on communicating effectively with immigrants and non-English speakers during inspections. For purposes of this subdivision, relevant agencies shall include the department of buildings, the department of consumer affairs, the department of health and mental hygiene, the department of environmental protection, the department of sanitation, and the bureau of fire prevention of the fire department. � 3. This local law shall take effect thirty days following enactment. JHC LS#1303 6/2/15