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What is NYC AC § 30-115?

Quick Answer

This section mandates that emergency alerts issued by city offices or agencies through a commercial mobile service alert system be provided in the two most commonly spoken languages in the area. Additionally, notifications from the office of emergency management must be available in the seven most commonly spoken languages in the city. Applies to city agencies responsible for emergency notifications.

General informational summary. Not legal advice for your situation. Consult an attorney before acting on any specific matter.

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§ 30-115 Emergency notifications.

AC § 30-115

a. Any emergency alert originated by a city office or city agency that is issued through a commercial mobile service alert system established pursuant to 47 U.S.C. § 1201 shall, to the extent practicable and to the extent permissible under regulations enacted pursuant to such section, be issued in no fewer than the two most commonly spoken languages within the area covered by the emergency alert as determined by the commissioner in consultation with the department of city planning, provided that this subdivision does not require the issuance of an emergency alert in a language if exigent circumstances prohibit the issuance of an alert in such language. b. Any emergency notification system operated and controlled by the office of emergency management for the purposes of aggregating information obtained from other offices or agencies to inform the public about emergencies or disruptive events through e-mail, text, phone, social media platform, or internet-based feed shall offer each notification in no fewer than the seven most commonly spoken languages within the city as determined by the commissioner in consultation with the department of city planning, provided that this requirement shall not delay or prohibit the immediate issuance of notifications in any individual language. Notifications shall be separated into distinct messages in separate feeds for each language. A general version of each notification may be used when a real-time translation is unavailable, provided that priority shall be placed upon making notifications available with the greatest specificity possible. Any dissemination limitation applicable to an English language notification may be applied to its equivalent notification in another language. If no potential recipient is registered for a specific language, then a notification need not be disseminated in that language. (L.L. 2017/031, 3/18/2017, eff. 3/18/2019)

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