BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1376
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 24, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Henry T. Perea, Chair
AB 1376 (Hernandez) - As Amended: April 17, 2013
SUBJECT : Interpreters: Division of Workers' Compensation's
duties
SUMMARY : Repeals the responsibility of the State Personnel
Board (SPB) to update its list of certified interpreters;
establishes the standards state agencies must apply where
interpreter services are required in their proceedings, and
delegates to the Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC) certain
responsibilities now the duty of the SPB. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Eliminates the SPB's obligation to establish and administer
updated lists of certified administrative hearing and medical
examination interpreters, and provides that the existing lists
as of December 31, 2013 shall be preserved and published for
five years.
2)Eliminates specified fees for certification and renewal of
certification by interpreters.
3)Transfers functions of the SPB to the California Department of
Human Resources (CalHR) consistent with an executive branch
reorganization last year.
4)Transfers the responsibility for determining which languages
to certify for interpreters from CalHR to the DWC.
5)Provides that interpreters required for administrative
hearings or medical examinations be qualified
6)Specifies that agencies may select a certified interpreter
from any of the established lists.
7)Clarifies that these certified interpreters are presumptively
qualified.
AB 1376
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8)Clarifies the process for provisionally qualifying an
interpreter if a certified interpreter is not appointed.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires state agencies authorized by law to conduct
administrative hearings to provide an interpreter for hearings
and medical examinations to a party or witness that does not
proficiently speak or understand English and requests language
assistance.
2)Requires state agencies to make all state programs,
activities, services and benefits equally accessible to people
who lack English proficiency.
3)Requires SPB to establish, maintain, administer and publish
annually an updated list of certified administrative hearing
and medical examination interpreters.
4)Provides that certified court interpreters are deemed
certified for the use in administrative hearings and medical
examinations.
5)Authorizes the Administrative Director of the DWC to
establish, maintain, administer, and publish a list of
certified hearing interpreters and certified medical
examination interpreters as needed in the workers'
compensation system.
6)Provides that an interpreter used in a hearing or a medical
examination shall be a SPB certified interpreter. However, if
a SPB certified interpreter cannot be present, a hearing
agency or physician may provisionally qualify and use another
interpreter.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose . According to the author, prior to the consolidation
of the SPB and the Department of Personnel Administration into
the new California Department of Human Resources (CalHR), SPB
was charged with providing testing for administrative hearing
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and medical examination interpreters as well as maintaining
and publishing a list of interpreters to be utilized by the
departments when needed. SPB suspended testing of
interpreters in 2006, and has not certified new additions to
its list since then. However, SPB has continued to charge an
annual renewal fee to previously certified interpreters of
$100 per year. No tests have been administered since 2006,
and the list of interpreters remains the same assuming they
annually renew their registration. Under Governors
Reorganization Plan 1, (GRP 1) operations previously
administered by SPB have been transferred to CalHR, including
responsibility for this program.
2)DWC role . The SPB's inability to update the list of certified
interpreters, apparently due to budgetary considerations,
became a serious problem for the state's workers' compensation
program. As a result, AB 2493 (Hernandez) was introduced in
2012 to grant authority to the Administrative Director of the
DWC to generate her own list of certified interpreters. That
measure was passed by the Assembly, but the substantive
provisions of AB 2493 were included in the major workers'
compensation reform legislation enacted last year, SB 863 (De
Leon), Statutes 2012, Chapter 363.
Because SPB, now CalHR, is formally seeking to end its role in
certifying interpreters, and updating the list of certified
interpreters, certain functions formerly performed by SPB must
be performed by another agency. This bill delegates to the
DWC the responsibility to determine what languages must have
certified interpreters. DWC has not yet commented on whether
this delegation is consistent with its functions in
implementing its own interpreter certification program, or
would add to its current responsibilities.
3)Current interpreter list . The interpreter certification
examination has apparently not been offered since 2006, and
the administration apparently does not intend to offer it
again. Those who were on the list as of the last
certification in 2006 have remained on the list since then by
paying a renewal fee annually. CalHR reports that there are
currently approximately 630 names on the list. Under this
bill, the SPB list as it exists at the end of this year would
be preserved by CalHR for five years, and available to
agencies who wish to make use of it. However, the bill would
relieve CalHR of the obligation to maintain an updated list.
AB 1376
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Thus, the value of the list will diminish over time, and the
bill provides that CalHR need not maintain the list after five
years. During this five-year period, and afterward, agencies
could alternatively make use of interpreters certified by the
courts as well as those certified by the Division of Workers
Compensation. The bill also provides guidance to state
agencies on the criteria to use in the event that a certified
interpreter is not available.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities
Opposition
None received.
Analysis Prepared by : Mark Rakich / INS. / (916) 319-2086