Video technology is also an option.
In 1997, the Supreme Court asked its interpreter program coordinator to investigate ways to increase access to interpreters through the use of technology. A 1998 poll showed two-thirds of the courts had experienced significant, but erratic, increases in their overall need for court interpreters over the past three years. The statewide telephone interpreting network was designed to greatly expand the availability of interpreters to smaller courts, particularly those in non-urban or remote locations. The goal was to bridge the availability gap, while offering more employment to certified interpreters. Though commercial telephone interpreting services are not unknown in other states, Washington is the first to take a court system-sponsored approach that provides certified interpreters to courts statewide.