II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1733

To authorize the Attorney General to award grants to States to develop 

and implement State court interpreter programs. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 15, 2003

Mr. KOHL (for himself 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 States 

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’’. 

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 pro-
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1 ceeding to understand that proceeding, regardless of 

2 their English proficiency; 

3 (2) 18 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) Executive Order 13166, issued August 11, 

19 2000, requires Federal Agencies, including courts, to 

20 improve access for persons who have limited English 

21 proficiency; 

22 (7) 29 States have developed, or are developing, 

23 court interpreting programs; 

24 (8) robust, effective court interpreter pro25 grams—
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1 (A) actively recruit skilled individuals to be 

2 court interpreters; 

3 (B) train those individuals in the interpre4 tation of court proceedings; 

5 (C) develop and use a thorough, systematic 

6 certification process for court interpreters; 

7 (D) have sufficient funding to ensure that 

8 a qualified interpreter will be available to the 

9 court whenever necessary; and 

10 (9) Federal funding is necessary to—

11 (A) encourage States that do not have 

12 court interpreter programs to develop them; 

13 (B) assist States with nascent court inter14 preter programs to implement them; 

15 (C) assist States with limited court inter16 preter programs to enhance them; and 

17 (D) assist States with robust court inter18 preter programs to make further improvements 

19 and share successful programs with other 

20 States. 

21 SEC. 3. STATE COURT INTERPRETER PROGRAM. 

22 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—

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

24 Office of Justice Programs of the Department of 

25 Justice (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Adminis-
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1 trator’’) shall make grants, in accordance with such 

2 regulations as the Attorney General may prescribe, 

3 to States to develop and implement programs to as4 sist individuals with limited English proficiency to 

5 access and understand State court proceedings in 

6 which they are a party. 

7 (2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Adminis8 trator shall allocate, for each fiscal year, $500,000 

9 of the amount appropriated pursuant to section 4 to 

10 be used to establish a court interpreter technical as11 sistance program to assist States receiving grants 

12 under this Act. 

13 (b) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants awarded pursuant to 

14 subsection (a) may be used by States to—

15 (1) assess regional language demands; 

16 (2) develop a court interpreter program for the 

17 State; 

18 (3) develop, institute, and administer language 

19 certification examinations; 

20 (4) recruit, train, and certify qualified court in21 terpreters; 

22 (5) pay for salaries, transportation, and tech23 nology necessary to implement the court interpreter 

24 program developed pursuant to paragraph (2); and 
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1 (6) engage in other related activities, as pre2 scribed by the Attorney General. 

3 (c) APPLICATION.—Each State desiring a grant 

4 under this section shall submit an application to the Ad5 ministrator at such time, in such manner, and accom6 panied by such information as the Administrator may rea7 sonably require. 

8 (d) STATE ALLOTMENTS.—

9 (1) BASE ALLOTMENT.—From amounts appro10 priated for each fiscal year pursuant to section 4, 

11 the Administrator shall allocate $100,000 to each 

12 State, which has an application approved under sub13 section (c). 

14 (2) DISCRETIONARY ALLOTMENT.—From 

15 amounts appropriated for each fiscal year pursuant 

16 to section 4, the Administrator shall allocate a total 

17 of $5,000,000 to the States that have extraordinary 

18 needs that must be addressed in order to develop, 

19 implement, or expand a State court interpreter pro20 gram. 

21 (3) ADDITIONAL ALLOTMENT.—In addition to 

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

23 the Administrator shall allocate to each State, which 

24 has an application approved under subsection (c), an 
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1 amount equal to the product reached by multi2 plying—

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 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

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

16 for each of the fiscal years 2005 through 2008 to carry 

17 out this Act.

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