Multilingual Initiative (MLI) Committee Meeting Minutes

January 11, 2005

Designated Federal Official (DFO)

• Nancy L. Ferree

MLI Program Owner(s)

• Toni M. Cross
• Sharese A. Stevens
• Raymond G. Mills

Panel Members Present

• Helen Curol, Lakes Charles, LA
• Jerald Fireman, Edmonds, WA
• Dorothy Havey, Lincolnville, ME
• José Irizarry, San Juan, PR
• Steve Kreisler, Potomac, MD
• Mary Ann Lawler, Dearborn, MI
• Paul McElroy, Winston-Salem, NC
• Clifford McKenzie, Del City, OK
• Theodore Perros, Washington, DC
• Iris Sosa, Fontana, CA
• Robert Stokes, Kemp, TX
• David Terrazas, Santa Cruz, CA, Vice-Chair
• Bruce Twomley, Juneau, AK, Chair

Panel Members Absent

• James Abraham, Gahanna, OH
• Delford Jones, Griffith, IN
• Joseph Meissner, Cleveland, OH
• Lovella Richardson, Knoxville,TN

Guests

• Peter Coddington, Bowne Global Solutions, Translations
• Greg Holt, Government Markets Manager, Language Line Services

Staff Present

• Inez E. De Jesus, Program Analyst & Note taker

Welcome/Announcements/Review Agenda
MLI Chair Bruce Twomley opened the meeting by welcoming everyone.

Twomley addressed Theodore Perros’ email, “Report on IRS Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens” and indicated that Perros could discuss later on if the time permits.

Roll Call
Quorum = of 9 was met. (13 members were present)

Review/Approve Previous Meeting Minutes
For the record, previous committee’s minutes from September 17, 2004 were approved by consensus on September 30, 2004 and the Notes taken on November 5, 2004 at the TAP Annual Meeting, are not regulated by FACA (Federal Advisory Committee Act).

Program Owner’s Updates
Ray Mills shared conversation he recently had with Chair Twomley whereby they agreed the panel needs to be more pro-active with issues that affect Limited English Proficient taxpayers. Mills made a proposal for the establishment of 3 teams which were accepted by the panel after discussion and these are:

#1 “MLI Feedback Team” (ID#3303)
This team will be charged with getting grassroots feedback from Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals on IRS Products and Services that relate to LEP’s. The MLI Office will provide the products and services for review. A presentation of the LEP Needs Assessment will be provided to the group.

#2 “MLI Education Team” (ID#3306)
This will be a follow-up to the previous TAP MLI Issue Committee’s ESL (English as a Second Language) Program directed by Sally Sandy, from the Parkway Area Adult Education and Literacy, St. Louis, MO. This team will be charged with the development of a standard basic tax curriculum for use in:

• English as a Second Language (ESL) program(s)
• Stakeholder educational programs (USCIS, DOE, DOJ)

#3 “MLI Product Development Team” (ID#3307)
This team will be pro-active in assisting with the translation of products in other languages as identified or agreed upon by the Program Owners. (Last year there was the “Bilingual Brochures”).

Brief discussion followed regarding a relationship between Teams
1 and 3 and that most likely there will be cross-functional activities among all 3 teams.

Sharese Stevens reminded everyone that the Multilingual Initiative Program Office is mandated by Executive Order 13166, Improving Access to Services for Persons with Limited English Proficiency. The MLI is to ensure that LEP customers have the products and services they need to understand and comply with tax responsibilities. A “LEP Needs Assessment Process” is currently being reviewed. Mills had shared some of this information via a Power-point Presentation during the TAP Annual Meeting in November in Washington, DC.

Next Steps/Action Item:

1. Ms. Stevens will be sending to everyone information on the LEP Needs Assessment as it relates to the 3 new teams, as well as details on the 3 new teams.
2. Once this is shared, Inez will be sending out an email requesting members’ preferences on which team they would want to be engaged in. (Order of preference will also be requested)
3. Inez will coordinate the responses and share via email to all concerned.

Office Reports
None

Action Items
Previous invitation for a panel member to attend the MLI Executive Council Meeting, January 2005, will not be extended due to budget and internal privacy issues. (Mills stated that the MLI Strategy office will not be available next week since they will be attending this meeting.)

Future Meeting Planning
Chair shared that during the December 2004 Joint Committee meeting he learned that due to budget concerns each committee will be allowed to have only one face-to-face meeting this year, and not two as previously planned. Also, DFO Ferree requested that the panel re-consider not holding a meeting on a Sunday. After brief discussion, agreement was made that meeting will not be held on a Sunday; the March meeting will be cancelled, and the actual dates and location for the face-to-face meeting will be based on the direction and guidance from the Program Owners. Follow-up Action item for Cross/Mills-on location/dates for committee’s face-to-face meeting.

• DFO Ferree shared that what has worked in the past is travel date Thursday, meeting on Friday and half a day on Saturday, and travel back home on Saturday afternoon.
• DFO Ferree requested that the panel re-visit the time frame for the MLI teleconference meetings which resulted in that beginning on February 8, 2005, these meetings will start at 2:30 PM ET instead of 3:00 PM ET. (Second Tuesday of every month) Action item: Inez will distribute an updated Tentative Meeting List for the remainder of this fiscal year to all.
• Mills suggested that perhaps aligning the face-to-face meeting with the upcoming 2005 IRS Nationwide Tax Forums might be an option. The MLI Strategy Office will be at these events. Mills shared the following Tax Forum’s dates and locations with the panel:
  

  City	Dates
  San Francisco, CA	June 28-30, 2005 (Tuesday-Thursday)
  Houston, TX	July 12-14, 2005
  Atlanta, GA	July 26-28, 2005
  New York, NY	August 9-11, 2005
  Las Vegas, NV	August 23-25, 2005
  Chicago, IL	August 30-Sept 1, 2005

  • Agreement was reached that the face-to-face meeting should be an involvement with a grassroots group and working meeting as it has been in the past.

Low Income Tax Clinic (LITC) Conference Feedback
Chair Twomley expressed gratitude for the reports provided by both Paul McElroy and Robert Stokes when they attended the second Annual LITC conference in Philadelphia, PA, December 7-9, 2004. Both McElroy and Stokes expressed the following:

• Basic information should be provided to a new attendee on what a LITC is, and what activities they provide for taxpayers.
• Attending conference was very educational; learned about the problems low-income taxpayers and ESL’s have regarding credits and refunds that they are due.
• TAP Chair Gwen Handelman was given the opportunity to introduce the members of TAP and explain what TAP is and requested input from LITC’s on helping TAP to meet its mission. Ms. Handelman volunteered to report to TAP on the substantive issues raised at the conference.
• Worthwhile experience.

Status of Prior Action Items — Mills
Mills reported that:

• He is finalizing the response to the National Women’s Law Center and will report back by the next meeting on the status of this. (Account of the IRS’ initiatives to date regarding the prioritization of the translation of key documents.)

Public Input
Both guests heard about this meeting from an ad that appeared in the Corporate Calendar for the IRS. Peter Coddington from Bowne Global Solutions, which handles the translating of documents, is a contractor who stated that he is currently attempting to work with the IRS. (He has no established contract with the IRS) He mentioned Denise Fayne who is in charge of Forms and Publications. Mr. Coddington shared that he is interested in the multilingual initiative program.

Greg Holt is from Language Line Services and was interested to hear about what this committee was all about.

Closing/Assessment
James Abraham signed in on the call as it was ending and he was advised to review the upcoming meeting minutes.

Before closing, Perros briefly shared a project that he has also shared with his area committee regarding “Improving Communications to Taxpayers.” Perros has reviewed Publication 519 and shared his views regarding the translation of IRS publications as not being the best way to use taxpayer’s monies. Both DFO and Program Owner agreed that this was not a MLI issue and it would be best addressed in an area committee, although Program Owner Cross commented the issue would likely come to her in any event. Chair Twomley concurred but thanked Mr. Perros for sharing the information and commented that Mr. Perros’ analysis was consistent with the MLI Issue Committee’s original recommendation to the IRS that money now spent on translating tax forms would be better spent on translating basic information and direct services to LEP taxpayers. Mr. Perros responded that he supported that approach.

Chair Twomley adjourned the meeting and thanked everyone for participating on this call.

The next teleconference meeting will be on Tuesday, February 8, 2005 at 2:30 PM Eastern Time.

*These minutes were approved by the TAP MLI Issue Committee on February 8, 2005, by consensus.