II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2497 

To authorize the Attorney General to award grants to State courts to develop 

and implement State courts interpreter programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 3, 2006 

Mr. KOHL (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to award grants to State 

courts to develop and implement State courts interpreter 

programs. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Court Inter5 preter Grant Program Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the fair administration of justice depends on 

9 the ability of all participants in a courtroom proVerDate Aug 31 2005 17:00 Apr 05, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2497.IS S2497

sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
2 

•S 2497 IS

1 ceeding to understand that proceeding, regardless of 

2 their English proficiency; 

3 (2) 19 percent of the population of the United 

4 States over 5 years of age speaks a language other 

5 than English at home; 

6 (3) only qualified court interpreters can ensure 

7 that persons with limited English proficiency com8 prehend judicial proceedings in which they are a 

9 party; 

10 (4) the knowledge and skills required of a quali11 fied court interpreter differ substantially from those 

12 required in other interpretation settings, such as so13 cial service, medical, diplomatic, and conference in14 terpreting; 

15 (5) the Federal Government has demonstrated 

16 its commitment to equal administration of justice re17 gardless of English proficiency; 

18 (6) regulations implementing title VI of the 

19 Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the guidance 

20 issued by the Department of Justice pursuant to Ex21 ecutive Order 13166, issued August 11, 2000, clar22 ify that all recipients of Federal financial assistance, 

23 including State courts, are required to take reason24 able steps to provide meaningful access to their proVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:48 Apr 04, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2497.IS S2497

sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
3 

•S 2497 IS

1 ceedings for persons with limited English pro2 ficiency; 

3 (7) 34 States have developed, or are developing, 

4 court interpreting programs; 

5 (8) robust, effective court interpreter pro6 grams— 

7 (A) actively recruit skilled individuals to be 

8 court interpreters; 

9 (B) train those individuals in the interpre10 tation of court proceedings; 

11 (C) develop and use a thorough, systematic 

12 certification process for court interpreters; and 

13 (D) have sufficient funding to ensure that 

14 a qualified interpreter will be available to the 

15 court whenever necessary; and 

16 (9) Federal funding is necessary to— 

17 (A) encourage State courts that do not 

18 have court interpreter programs to develop 

19 them; 

20 (B) assist State courts with nascent court 

21 interpreter programs to implement them; 

22 (C) assist State courts with limited court 

23 interpreter programs to enhance them; and 

24 (D) assist State courts with robust court 

25 interpreter programs to make further improveVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:48 Apr 04, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2497.IS S2497

sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
4 

•S 2497 IS

1 ments and share successful programs with other 

2 States. 

3 SEC. 3. STATE COURT INTERPRETER PROGRAM. 

4 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the 

6 Office of Justice Programs of the Department of 

7 Justice (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’) shall make grants, in accordance with such 

9 regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe, 

10 to State courts to develop and implement programs 

11 to assist individuals with limited English proficiency 

12 to access and understand State court proceedings in 

13 which they are a party. 

14 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Adminis15 trator shall allocate, for each fiscal year, $500,000 

16 of the amount appropriated pursuant to section 4 to 

17 be used to establish a court interpreter technical as18 sistance program to assist State courts receiving 

19 grants under this Act. 

20 (b) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded under sub21 section (a) may be used by State courts to— 

22 (1) assess regional language demands; 

23 (2) develop a court interpreter program for the 

24 State courts; 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
5 

•S 2497 IS

1 (3) develop, institute, and administer language 

2 certification examinations; 

3 (4) recruit, train, and certify qualified court in4 terpreters; 

5 (5) pay for salaries, transportation, and tech6 nology necessary to implement the court interpreter 

7 program developed under paragraph (2); and 

8 (6) engage in other related activities, as pre9 scribed by the Attorney General. 

10 (c) APPLICATION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The highest State court of 

12 each State desiring a grant under this section shall 

13 submit an application to the Administrator at such 

14 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in15 formation as the Administrator may reasonably re16 quire. 

17 (2) STATE COURTS.—The highest State court 

18 of each State submitting an application under para19 graph (1) shall include in the application— 

20 (A) an identification of each State court in 

21 that State which would receive funds from the 

22 grant; 

23 (B) the amount of funds each State court 

24 identified under subparagraph (A) would re25 ceive from the grant; and 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
6 

•S 2497 IS

1 (C) the procedures the highest State court 

2 would use to directly distribute grant funds to 

3 State courts identified under subparagraph (A). 

4 (d) STATE COURT ALLOTMENTS.— 

5 (1) BASE ALLOTMENT.—From amounts appro6 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 4, 

7 the Administrator shall allocate $100,000 to each of 

8 the highest State court of each State, which has an 

9 application approved under subsection (c). 

10 (2) DISCRETIONARY ALLOTMENT.—From 

11 amounts appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant 

12 to section 4, the Administrator shall allocate a total 

13 of $5,000,000 to the highest State court of States 

14 that have extraordinary needs that must be ad15 dressed in order to develop, implement, or expand a 

16 State court interpreter program. 

17 (3) ADDITIONAL ALLOTMENT.—In addition to 

18 the allocations made under paragraphs (1) and (2), 

19 the Administrator shall allocate to each of the high20 est State court of each State, which has an applica21 tion approved under subsection (c), an amount equal 

22 to the product reached by multiplying— 

23 (A) the unallocated balance of the amount 

24 appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant to 

25 section 4; and 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS
7 

•S 2497 IS

1 (B) the ratio between the number of people 

2 over 5 years of age who speak a language other 

3 than English at home in the State and the 

4 number of people over 5 years of age who speak 

5 a language other than English at home in all 

6 the States that receive an allocation under 

7 paragraph (1), as those numbers are deter8 mined by the Bureau of the Census. 

9 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

10 There are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 

11 for each of the fiscal years 2007 through 2010 to carry 

12 out this Act. 

Æ 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with BILLS