II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3365 

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

and implement State court interpreter programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 10, 2012 

Mr. KOHL 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 court 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 of 2012’’. 

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 Mar 15 2010 21:12 Jul 11, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3365.IS S3365

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1 ceeding to understand that proceeding, regardless of 

2 their English proficiency; 

3 (2) 21 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 and certified court inter7 preters can ensure that persons with limited English 

8 proficiency comprehend judicial proceedings in which 

9 they are a 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 set14 tings; 

15 (5) the Federal Government has demonstrated 

16 its commitment to equal administration of justice, 

17 regardless of English proficiency; 

18 (6) regulations implementing title VI of the 

19 Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.), 

20 as well as the guidance issued by the Department of 

21 Justice pursuant to Executive Order 13166, issued 

22 August 11, 2000, clarify that all recipients of Fed23 eral financial assistance, including State courts, are 

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1 ingful access to their proceedings for persons with 

2 limited English proficiency; 

3 (7) 43 States have developed, or are developing, 

4 qualified court interpreter programs; 

5 (8) a robust and effective court interpreter pro6 gram— 

7 (A) actively recruits skilled individuals to 

8 serve as court interpreters; 

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

11 (C) develops and uses a thorough, system12 atic certification process for court interpreters; 

13 (D) has sufficient funding to ensure that a 

14 qualified and certified interpreter will be avail15 able to the court whenever necessary; and 

16 (E) efficiently uses funding to create sub17 stantial cost savings; and 

18 (9) Federal funding is necessary to— 

19 (A) encourage State courts that do not 

20 have court interpreter programs to develop 

21 them; 

22 (B) assist State courts with nascent court 

23 interpreter programs to implement them; 

24 (C) assist State courts with limited court 

25 interpreter programs to enhance them; and 


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1 (D) assist State courts with robust court 

2 interpreter programs to make further improve3 ments and share successful cost saving pro4 grams with other States. 

5 SEC. 3. STATE COURT INTERPRETER PROGRAM. 

6 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

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

8 Office of Justice Programs of the Department of 

9 Justice (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’) shall make grants, in accordance with such 

11 regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe, 

12 to State courts to develop and implement programs 

13 to assist individuals with limited English proficiency 

14 to access and understand State court proceedings in 

15 which they are a party. 

16 (2) USE OF GRANTS.—A State court may use 

17 a grant awarded under this subsection to— 

18 (A) develop or enhance a court interpreter 

19 program for the State court; 

20 (B) develop, institute, and administer lan21 guage certification examinations; 

22 (C) recruit, train, and certify qualified 

23 court interpreters; 

24 (D) pay for salaries, transportation, and 

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1 terpreter program developed or enhanced under 

2 subparagraph (A); 

3 (E) provide for remote interpretation serv4 ices to facilitate certified court interpretations 

5 when costs prohibit in-person interpretation; or 

6 (F) engage in other related activities, as 

7 prescribed by the Attorney General. 

8 (b) APPLICATION.— 

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

10 each State seeking a grant under this section shall 

11 submit an application to the Administrator at such 

12 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in13 formation as the Administrator may reasonably re14 quire. 

15 (2) CONTENTS.—The highest State court of 

16 each State submitting an application under para17 graph (1) shall include in the application— 

18 (A) a demonstration of need for the devel19 opment, implementation, or expansion of a 

20 State court interpreter program; 

21 (B) an identification of each State court in 

22 that State that would receive funds from the 

23 grant; 


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1 (C) the amount of funds that each State 

2 court identified under subparagraph (B) would 

3 receive from the grant; and 

4 (D) the procedures that the highest State 

5 court would use to directly distribute grant 

6 funds to State courts identified under subpara7 graph (B). 

8 (c) STATE COURT ALLOTMENTS.— 

9 (1) BASE ALLOTMENT.—From amounts appro10 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 5, 

11 the Administrator shall allocate $100,000 to the 

12 highest court of each State that has an application 

13 approved under subsection (b). 

14 (2) ADDITIONAL ALLOTMENT.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—From amounts appro16 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 

17 5, the Administrator shall allocate $5,000,000 

18 to be distributed among the highest State 

19 courts that— 

20 (i) have an application approved 

21 under subsection (b); and 

22 (ii) are located in a State with ex23 traordinary needs that prevent the develop24 ment, implementation, or expansion of a 

25 State court interpreter program. 


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1 (B) DETERMINING NEED.—In determining 

2 whether a State has extraordinary needs re3 quired under subparagraph (A), the Adminis4 trator shall consider— 

5 (i) based on data from the Bureau of 

6 the Census, the ratio between the number 

7 of people over 5 years of age who speak a 

8 language other than English at home and 

9 identify as speaking English less than very 

10 well— 

11 (I) in that State; and 

12 (II) in all of the States that re13 ceive an allocation under paragraph 

14 (1); and 

15 (ii) any efficiency or substantial cost 

16 savings expected from a State court inter17 preter program. 

18 (C) PRIORITY CONSIDERATION.—In allo19 cating amounts under subparagraph (A), the 

20 Administrator shall give priority to any State 

21 that does not have and has not begun to de22 velop a qualified court interpreter program. 

23 (d) TREATMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.—For 

24 purposes of this section— 


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1 (1) the District of Columbia shall be treated as 

2 a State; and 

3 (2) the District of Columbia Court of Appeals 

4 shall act as the highest State court for the District 

5 of Columbia. 

6 SEC. 4. REPORT. 

7 Not later than 1 year after the date on which the 

8 first grant is made under section 3, the Administrator 

9 shall submit a report to Congress that describes how each 

10 highest State court has used the funds from each grant 

11 made under section 3 in a manner consistent with section 

12 3(a)(2). 

13 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

15 for each of fiscal years 2013 through 2017 to carry out 

16 this Act. 

Æ 


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