BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1127 (Chau) - Courts: California Language Access Task Force.
Amended: May 24, 2013 Policy Vote: Judiciary 5-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 12, 2013
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1127 would require the Judicial Council to, on
or before March 1, 2014, establish the California Language
Access Task Force, which will be responsible for developing a
comprehensive statewide Language Access Plan (LAP) for use by
the courts to address the needs of all
limited-English-proficient individuals, as specified. This bill
would require the task force to provide the Judicial Council
with its LAP by September 1, 2014, and requires the Judicial
Council to adopt a statewide LAP by December 31, 2014. This bill
provides that its requirements are to be implemented upon the
appropriation of funding, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs of approximately $175,000 (General Fund*) to
the Judicial Council to support administrative staff and the
participation of judicial officers and court personnel
engaged in task force activities. Minor annual costs of
$25,000 (General Fund*) to maintain and update the statewide
LAP.
Potentially significant future ongoing costs of about
$375,000 (General Fund*) statewide to the trial courts to
the extent the provisions of the adopted statewide LAP are
implemented. The LAP is to include procedures for gathering
comprehensive data on the language access needs of court
users, a statewide plan to provide for the translation of
court documents using competent and qualified interpreters,
strategies to provide interpreter services in all court
proceedings, and a plan to provide education and training to
judicial officers, court personnel, and court-appointed
professionals.
*Trial Court Trust Fund
Background: Existing state law requires a court interpreter in
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civil cases for parties who are deaf or have a hearing
impairment that prevents them from speaking or understanding
English, however, current law does not require a court
interpreter for other parties in civil matters who are not
proficient in English. Likewise, existing law requires an
interpreter for witnesses who speak a language other than
English, but not for the parties in the case. Even though
existing law authorizes courts to assign interpreters already
employed for criminal and juvenile cases to civil cases (for a
fee) when their services are not otherwise required in criminal
or juvenile cases, interpreters in civil cases are not routinely
provided as a matter of right.
Adequate access to interpreters for non-English or
limited-English proficient (LEP) speakers has been the subject
of several reports from the California Commission on Access to
Justice, as well as the subject of an investigation by the Civil
Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in
February 2011. Prompted by a complaint by the Legal Aid
Foundation of Los Angeles alleging discrimination against
limited-English proficient individuals on the basis of national
origin, the U.S. DOJ investigated the Los Angeles County
Superior Court (LASC) and the Judicial Council. As a result of
the investigation, the DOJ issued a letter dated May 22, 2013,
to the Chief Justice, Administrative Director of the Courts for
the AOC, and the Presiding Judge of LASC. The letter indicated
that several current policies, practices, and procedures
regarding the provision of language assistance services in LASC
appear to be inconsistent with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act
of 1964 and its implementing regulations. The letter provided
observations and recommendations to help the state achieve
voluntary compliance, and stated the inconsistencies with
federal law should be addressed to ensure that LEP individuals
have meaningful access to court proceedings and court
operations.
http://www.calinterpreters.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/DOJ-Inv
estigation-171-12C-31-5-22-13-Letter-2.pdf
This bill seeks to establish a task force charged with
developing a comprehensive statewide language access plan for
use by courts to address the needs of all limited-English
proficient individuals, and could assist the state towards
voluntary compliance as described by the U.S. DOJ.
AB 1127 (Chau)
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Proposed Law: This bill would require the Judicial Council, on
or before March 1, 2014, to establish the California Language
Access Task Force to develop a comprehensive statewide LAP for
use by courts to address the needs of all
limited-English-proficient individuals in conformance with state
and federal law. Specifically, this bill:
Specifies that the task force's composition must include
court executive officers, presiding judges, interpreter
coordinators, interpreters, as specified, representatives
of legal services organizations and organizations
representing individuals with limited English proficiency,
and others the Judicial Council determines necessary. The
task force must also include a representative from a rural
community in order to highlight the particular challenges
of providing court interpreter services in rural
communities.
Requires the task force to do all of the following in
developing the LAP:
o Establish standards for meaningful and timely
provision of language services in all court
proceedings and at all public points of contact within
the courts.
o Establish procedures for gathering
comprehensive data on the language access needs of
court users, including, but not limited to, providing
a means of registering an individual's language needs
in court documents, as specified.
o Review current court interpreter procedures
and recommend improvements or additional procedures to
provide the most competent interpreter services to
limited-English-proficient court users and to ensure
compliance with Rule 2.890 of the California Rules of
Court (relating to the professional conduct of court
interpreters).
o Review current court procedures and recommend
improvements or additional procedures to maximize
existing language resources, including bilingual
staff, court interpreters, translators, and other
resources shared among courts to expand access to
language services at all public points of contact
within the courts.
o Review current practices and develop
strategies to provide interpreter services that comply
with the Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor
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Relations Act in all court proceedings. The review
may include evaluation of any programs providing
interpreters in domestic violence or other civil
cases, including any pilot projects.
o Establish a statewide plan to provide for the
translation of court documents using competent and
qualified interpreters.
o Establish a plan to provide education and
training to judicial officers, court personnel, and
court-appointed professionals on the legal
requirements for language access, court policies and
rules pertaining to language access, language service
provider qualifications, ethics pertaining to
interpreter services, the effective use of translated
court documents, and effective techniques for working
with language service providers.
o Review and consider the American Bar
Association's Standards for Language Access in Courts,
as adopted February 2012.
Requires the task force to provide the LAP to the
Judicial Council on or before September 1, 2014. The
Judicial Council must then adopt a statewide LAP based on
the LAP provided by the task force, on or before December
31, 2014.
Provides that the above requirements must be implemented
upon appropriation of funding for these purposes in the
annual Budget Act or another statute.
Related Legislation: SB 597 (Lara) 2013, similar to AB 3050
noted below, would have created a pilot project to provide for
interpreters in civil proceedings in up to five courts, as
specified. This bill was held on the Suspense File of this
committee. Staff notes a similar court interpreter pilot project
was approved by the Legislature through the 2013-14 Budget
Conference Committee, however, it was not included as part of
the final enacted Budget Act.
AB 3050 (Assembly Committee on Judiciary) 2008 would have
established a Judicial Council working group and pilot program
to provide court interpreters in specified civil proceedings in
up to five courts, for any party proceeding in forma pauperis
who is present and who does not speak or understand English
proficiently enough for the purpose of understanding court
proceedings. This bill was vetoed by the Governor with the
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following message:
The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has
forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of
the year's legislative session. Given the delay, I am only
signing bills that are the highest priority for California. This
bill does not meet that standard and I cannot sign it at this
time.
Staff Comments: The Judicial Council has indicated one-time
costs of approximately $175,000 (General Fund) for
administrative support of task force activities, as well as
judicial officer and court personnel participation on the task
force. Annual costs to maintain and update the statewide LAP are
estimated to be about $25,000.
To the extent the provisions of the adopted statewide LAP are
implemented, local trial courts could incur ongoing costs of an
unknown, but potentially significant amount. Components to be
developed in the LAP include but are not limited to 1)
procedures for gathering comprehensive data on the language
access needs of court users, 2) improvements or additional
procedures to maximize existing language resources to expand
access to language services at all public points of contact
within the courts, 3) a plan to provide for the translation of
court documents using competent and qualified interpreters, and,
4) a plan to provide education and training to judicial
officers, court personnel, and court-appointed professionals on
the legal requirements for language access. The Judicial Council
indicates the costs could range from $3,000 at smaller courts to
as much as $10,000 at larger courts, for a statewide estimate of
approximately $375,000 per year.