II 

Calendar No. 932 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 702 

[Report No. 110–436] 

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 

FEBRUARY 28, 2007 

Mr. KOHL (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BIDEN, Mr. 

CARDIN, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. SPECTER, and Mrs. LINCOLN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the 

Judiciary 

AUGUST 1, 2008 

Reported by Mr. LEAHY, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Court Inter3 preter Grant Program Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the fair administration of justice depends on 

7 the ability of all participants in a courtroom pro8 ceeding to understand that proceeding, regardless of 

9 their English proficiency; 

10 (2) 19 percent of the population of the United 

11 States over 5 years of age speaks a language other 

12 than English at home; 

13 (3) only qualified court interpreters can ensure 

14 that persons with limited English proficiency com15 prehend judicial proceedings in which they are a 

16 party; 

17 (4) the knowledge and skills required of a quali18 fied court interpreter differ substantially from those 

19 required in other interpretation settings, such as so20 cial service, medical, diplomatic, and conference in21 terpreting; 

22 (5) the Federal Government has demonstrated 

23 its commitment to equal administration of justice re24 gardless of English proficiency; 

25 (6) regulations implementing title VI of the 

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


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1 issued by the Department of Justice pursuant to Ex2 ecutive Order 13166, issued August 11, 2000, clar3 ify that all recipients of Federal financial assistance, 

4 including State courts, are required to take reason5 able steps to provide meaningful access to their pro6 ceedings for persons with limited English pro7 ficiency; 

8 (7) 36 States have developed, or are developing, 

9 qualified court interpreting programs; 

10 (8) robust, effective court interpreter pro11 grams— 

12 (A) actively recruit skilled individuals to be 

13 court interpreters; 

14 (B) train those individuals in the interpre15 tation of court proceedings; 

16 (C) develop and use a thorough, systematic 

17 certification process for court interpreters; and 

18 (D) have sufficient funding to ensure that 

19 a qualified interpreter will be available to the 

20 court whenever necessary; and 

21 (9) Federal funding is necessary to— 

22 (A) encourage State courts that do not 

23 have court interpreter programs to develop 

24 them; 


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1 (B) assist State courts with nascent court 

2 interpreter programs to implement them; 

3 (C) assist State courts with limited court 

4 interpreter programs to enhance them; and 

5 (D) assist State courts with robust court 

6 interpreter programs to make further improve7 ments and share successful programs with other 

8 States. 

9 SEC. 3. STATE COURT INTERPRETER PROGRAM. 

10 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

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

12 Office of Justice Programs of the Department of 

13 Justice (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Adminis14 trator’’) shall make grants, in accordance with such 

15 regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe, 

16 to State courts to develop and implement programs 

17 to assist individuals with limited English proficiency 

18 to access and understand State court proceedings in 

19 which they are a party. 

20 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Adminis21 trator shall allocate, for each fiscal year, $500,000 

22 of the amount appropriated pursuant to section 4 to 

23 be used to establish a court interpreter technical as24 sistance program to assist State courts receiving 

25 grants under this Act. 


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1 (b) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded under sub2 section (a) may be used by State courts to— 

3 (1) assess regional language demands; 

4 (2) develop a court interpreter program for the 

5 State courts; 

6 (3) develop, institute, and administer language 

7 certification examinations; 

8 (4) recruit, train, and certify qualified court in9 terpreters; 

10 (5) pay for salaries, transportation, and tech11 nology necessary to implement the court interpreter 

12 program developed under paragraph (2); and 

13 (6) engage in other related activities, as pre14 scribed by the Attorney General. 

15 (c) APPLICATION.— 

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

17 each State desiring a grant under this section shall 

18 submit an application to the Administrator at such 

19 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in20 formation as the Administrator may reasonably re21 quire. 

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

23 of each State submitting an application under para24 graph (1) shall include in the application— 


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1 (A) an identification of each State court in 

2 that State which would receive funds from the 

3 grant; 

4 (B) the amount of funds each State court 

5 identified under subparagraph (A) would re6 ceive from the grant; and 

7 (C) the procedures the highest State court 

8 would use to directly distribute grant funds to 

9 State courts identified under subparagraph (A). 

10 (d) STATE COURT ALLOTMENTS.— 

11 (1) BASE ALLOTMENT.—From amounts appro12 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 4, 

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

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

15 application approved under subsection (c). 

16 (2) DISCRETIONARY ALLOTMENT.—From 

17 amounts appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant 

18 to section 4, the Administrator shall allocate a total 

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

20 that have extraordinary needs that are required to 

21 be addressed in order to develop, implement, or ex22 pand a State court interpreter program. 

23 (3) ADDITIONAL ALLOTMENT.—In addition to 

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

25 the Administrator shall allocate to each of the highVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:36 Aug 01, 2008 Jkt 069002 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6401 E:\BILLS\S702.RS S702

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1 est State court of each State, which has an applica2 tion approved under subsection (c), an amount equal 

3 to the product reached by multiplying— 

4 (A) the unallocated balance of the amount 

5 appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant to 

6 section 4; and 

7 (B) the ratio between the number of people 

8 over 5 years of age who speak a language other 

9 than English at home in the State and the 

10 number of people over 5 years of age who speak 

11 a language other than English at home in all 

12 the States that receive an allocation under 

13 paragraph (1), as those numbers are deter14 mined by the Bureau of the Census. 

15 (4) TREATMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.— 

16 For purposes of this section— 

17 (A) the District of Columbia shall be treat18 ed as a State; and 

19 (B) the District of Columbia Court of Ap20 peals shall act as the highest State court for 

21 the District of Columbia. 

22 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

24 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to carry 

25 out this Act. 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘State Court Interpreter 

3 Grant Program Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds that— 

6 (1) the fair administration of justice depends on 

7 the ability of all participants in a courtroom pro8 ceeding to understand that proceeding, regardless of 

9 their English proficiency; 

10 (2) 19 percent of the population of the United 

11 States over 5 years of age speaks a language other 

12 than English at home; 

13 (3) only qualified court interpreters can ensure 

14 that persons with limited English proficiency com15 prehend judicial proceedings in which they are a 

16 party; 

17 (4) the knowledge and skills required of a quali18 fied court interpreter differ substantially from those 

19 required in other interpretation settings, such as so20 cial service, medical, diplomatic, and conference in21 terpreting; 

22 (5) the Federal Government has demonstrated its 

23 commitment to equal administration of justice re24 gardless of English proficiency; 

25 (6) regulations implementing title VI of the Civil 

26 Rights Act of 1964, as well as the guidance issued by 


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•S 702 RS

1 the Department of Justice pursuant to Executive 

2 Order 13166, issued August 11, 2000, clarify that all 

3 recipients of Federal financial assistance, including 

4 State courts, are required to take reasonable steps to 

5 provide meaningful access to their proceedings for 

6 persons with limited English proficiency; 

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

8 qualified court interpreting programs; 

9 (8) robust, effective court interpreter programs— 

10 (A) actively recruit skilled individuals to be 

11 court interpreters; 

12 (B) train those individuals in the interpre13 tation of court proceedings; 

14 (C) develop and use a thorough, systematic 

15 certification process for court interpreters; and 

16 (D) have sufficient funding to ensure that a 

17 qualified interpreter will be available to the 

18 court whenever necessary; and 

19 (9) Federal funding is necessary to— 

20 (A) encourage State courts that do not have 

21 court interpreter programs to develop 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 in2 terpreter programs to make further improve3 ments and share successful programs with other 

4 States. 

5 SEC. 3. STATE COURT INTERPRETER PROGRAM. 

6 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the Of8 fice of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice 

9 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Administrator’’) 

10 shall make grants, in accordance with such regula11 tions as the Attorney General may prescribe, to State 

12 courts to develop and implement programs to assist 

13 individuals with limited English proficiency to access 

14 and understand State court proceedings in which they 

15 are a party. 

16 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Adminis17 trator shall allocate, for each fiscal year, $500,000 of 

18 the amount appropriated pursuant to section 4 to be 

19 used to establish a court interpreter technical assist20 ance program to assist State courts receiving grants 

21 under this Act. 

22 (b) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded under sub23 section (a) may be used by State courts to— 

24 (1) assess regional language demands; 


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1 (2) develop a court interpreter program for the 

2 State courts; 

3 (3) develop, institute, and administer language 

4 certification examinations; 

5 (4) recruit, train, and certify qualified court in6 terpreters; 

7 (5) pay for salaries, transportation, and tech8 nology necessary to implement the court interpreter 

9 program developed under paragraph (2); and 

10 (6) engage in other related activities, as pre11 scribed by the Attorney General. 

12 (c) APPLICATION.— 

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

14 each State desiring a grant under this section shall 

15 submit an application to the Administrator at such 

16 time, in such manner, and accompanied by such in17 formation as the Administrator may reasonably re18 quire. 

19 (2) STATE COURTS.—The highest State court of 

20 each State submitting an application under para21 graph (1) shall include in the application— 

22 (A) a demonstration of need for the develop23 ment, implementation, or expansion of a State 

24 court interpreter program; 


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1 (B) an identification of each State court in 

2 that State which would receive funds from the 

3 grant; 

4 (C) the amount of funds each State court 

5 identified under subparagraph (B) would receive 

6 from the grant; and 

7 (D) the procedures the highest State court 

8 would use to directly distribute grant funds to 

9 State courts identified under subparagraph (B). 

10 (d) STATE COURT ALLOTMENTS.— 

11 (1) BASE ALLOTMENT.—From amounts appro12 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 4, the 

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

14 highest State court of each State, which has an appli15 cation approved under subsection (c). 

16 (2) DISCRETIONARY ALLOTMENT.—From 

17 amounts appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant 

18 to section 4, the Administrator shall allocate 

19 $5,000,000 to be distributed among the highest State 

20 courts of States which have an application approved 

21 under subsection (c), and that have extraordinary 

22 needs that are required to be addressed in order to de23 velop, implement, or expand a State court interpreter 

24 program. 


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1 (3) ADDITIONAL ALLOTMENT.—In addition to 

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

3 the Administrator shall allocate to each of the highest 

4 State court of each State, which has an application 

5 approved under subsection (c), an amount equal to 

6 the product reached by multiplying— 

7 (A) the unallocated balance of the amount 

8 appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant to 

9 section 4; and 

10 (B) the ratio between the number of people 

11 over 5 years of age who speak a language other 

12 than English at home in the State and the num13 ber of people over 5 years of age who speak a 

14 language other than English at home in all the 

15 States that receive an allocation under para16 graph (1), as those numbers are determined by 

17 the Bureau of the Census. 

18 (4) TREATMENT OF DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.— 

19 For purposes of this section— 

20 (A) the District of Columbia shall be treated 

21 as a State; and 

22 (B) the District of Columbia Court of Ap23 peals shall act as the highest State court for the 

24 District of Columbia. 


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1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

3 for each of the fiscal years 2008 through 2012 to carry out 

4 this Act. 


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Calendar No. 932 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 702 

[Report No. 110

–436] 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to award grants 

courts interpreter programs. to State courts to develop and implement State 

AUGUST 1, 2008 

Reported with an amendment 


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