GR 9 COVER SHEET

Amended Rule

Washington Supreme Court

General Rule (GR) 11 Court Interpreters

Rule 11.1 Purpose and Scope of Interpreter Commission

Name of Proponent: Washington State Supreme Court Interpreter Commission

Spokespersons: Judge Mafe Rajul, Interpreter Commission Chairperson, Superior Court Judges Association Representative, Interpreter Commission; Judge Matthew Antush, District and Municipal Court Judges Association Representative, Interpreter Commission; Katrin Johnson, Public Member Representative, Interpreter Commission; and Justice G. Helen Whitener, Appellate Court Representative, Interpreter Commission.

The purpose of these proposed amendments is to expand the membership of the Washington State Supreme Court Interpreter Commission (Commission) and further the mission and authority of the Interpreter Commission by amending GR 11 (Title of General Rule) and GR 11.1 (Purpose and Scope of the Interpreter Commission) to authorize the Commission to provide our state courts with best practices guidance regarding other forms of language access services, such as translated websites, court forms, and other communications essential for access to courts, in addition to its current authority to create policies for the Administrative Office of the Courts’ (AOC) Court Interpreter Program and provide best practices guidance to trial courts in the use of interpreter services.  The suggested rule change(s) achieves the following:

1. It renames GR 11 to reflect that the General Rule 11 addresses language access services provided by the courts, digital or otherwise and authorizes courts to provide vital information necessary to access judicial proceedings and services in languages other than English.  General Rule 11 is to be changed to “Interpreting and Language Access” and the wording “Court Interpreters” is removed.

2. It renames the “Supreme Court Interpreter Commission” to become the “Supreme Court Interpreter and Language Access Commission” in GR 11.1 and changes the title of GR 11.1 to become “Purpose and Scope of the Interpreter and Language Access Commission.”

3. In addition to its current authority to develop policies for the AOC’s Court Interpreter Program, it expands the authority of the Commission to establish and promulgate guidelines for the AOC and courts on text translation and other forms of language access means for persons who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) or who use a signed language.

4. In addition to its current authority over individual interpreter practices and other language access directives required by law, it clarifies that the Issues Committee will also address matters affecting interpreting as a service provided by interpreters and the courts. It also arranges the work of the Issues Committee under one subsection.

5. It creates a fourth Committee on the Commission to be called “Translation Committee.”

6. It expands the membership of the Commission from fifteen (15) members to twenty (20) members.

7. It creates the following five new positions on the Commission: a cochair, one certified Deaf interpreter representative, one Deaf community representative, one translator or translation services representative, and one as-yet-to-be identified open position.  The Commission requests an open position be granted to the Commission to enable the Commission to designate an additional representative position in order to enhance the subject matter expertise of the Commission in the future should that become necessary and that may be filled at the discretion of the Commission.  As a result of the reconfiguration, the Commission will have eighteen (18) named positions with eighteen (18) members if the co-chair is from among the membership and nineteen (19) members if the co-chair is not a representative member from among the named representative positions.  In the event the co-chair is a representative member, the Commission will have two open positions to establish at its discretion.