II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1329 

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 

JUNE 23, 2009 

Mr. KOHL (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. KENNEDY) 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 Nov 24 2008 02:19 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1329.IS S1329

jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
2 

•S 1329 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 Nov 24 2008 02:19 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1329.IS S1329

jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
3 

•S 1329 IS

1 ceedings for persons with limited English pro2 ficiency; 

3 (7) 40 States have developed, or are developing, 

4 qualified 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 Nov 24 2008 02:19 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1329.IS S1329

jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
4 

•S 1329 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; 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
5 

•S 1329 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) a demonstration of need for the devel21 opment, implementation, or expansion of a 

22 State court interpreter program; 

23 (B) an identification of each State court in 

24 that State which would receive funds from the 

25 grant; 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
6 

•S 1329 IS

1 (C) the amount of funds each State court 

2 identified under subparagraph (B) would re3 ceive from the grant; and 

4 (D) the procedures the highest State court 

5 would use to directly distribute grant funds to 

6 State courts identified under subparagraph (B). 

7 (d) STATE COURT ALLOTMENTS.— 

8 (1) BASE ALLOTMENT.—From amounts appro9 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 4, 

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

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

12 application approved under subsection (c). 

13 (2) DISCRETIONARY ALLOTMENT.—From 

14 amounts appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant 

15 to section 4, the Administrator shall allocate 

16 $5,000,000 to be distributed among the highest 

17 State courts of States which have an application ap18 proved under subsection (c), and that have extraor19 dinary needs that are required to be addressed in 

20 order to develop, implement, or expand a State court 

21 interpreter program. 

22 (3) ADDITIONAL ALLOTMENT.—In addition to 

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

24 the Administrator shall allocate to each of the high25 est State court of each State, which has an applicaVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:19 Jun 24, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1329.IS S1329

jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS
7 

•S 1329 IS

1 tion approved under subsection (c), an amount equal 

2 to the product reached by multiplying— 

3 (A) the unallocated balance of the amount 

4 appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant to 

5 section 4; and 

6 (B) the ratio between the number of people 

7 over 5 years of age who speak a language other 

8 than English at home in the State and the 

9 number of people over 5 years of age who speak 

10 a language other than English at home in all 

11 the States that receive an allocation under 

12 paragraph (1), as those numbers are deter13 mined by the Bureau of the Census. 

14 (4) TREATMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.— 

15 For purposes of this section— 

16 (A) the District of Columbia shall be treat17 ed as a State; and 

18 (B) the District of Columbia Court of Ap19 peals shall act as the highest State court for 

20 the District of Columbia. 

21 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

23 for each of the fiscal years 2010 through 2014 to carry 

24 out this Act. 

Æ 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with BILLS