BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
William W. Monning, Chair
Date of Hearing: June 12, 2013 2013-2014 Regular
Session
Consultant: Gideon L. Baum Fiscal:Yes
Urgency: No
Bill No: AB 1376
Author: Hernandez
As Introduced/Amended: April 30, 2013
SUBJECT
Administrative adjudication: language assistance.
KEY ISSUE
Should the Legislature shift the responsibility for creating a
list of certified interpreters for administrative hearings from
the Department of Human Resources to the Division of Workers'
Compensation, as well as create a process for provisionally
qualifying interpreters in administrative hearings?
ANALYSIS
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system that
provides benefits to an employee who suffers from an injury or
illness that arises out of and in the course of employment,
irrespective of fault. This system requires all employers to
secure payment of benefits by either securing the consent of the
Department of Industrial Relations to self-insure or by securing
insurance against liability from an insurance company duly
authorized by the state.
Existing law provides that, if an employee submits to
examination by a physician at the request of the employer, the
employer's insurer, or other specified parties, and the employee
does not proficiently speak or understand the English language,
he or she shall be entitled to the services of a qualified
interpreter in accordance with conditions and a fee schedule
prescribed by the administrative director. These services shall
be provided by the employer. (Labor Code §4600)
Existing law provides that, for the purposes of workers'
compensation, the interpreter can only be certified, or deemed
certified, through a certification process created by the State
Personnel Board, the Judicial Council, or a third-party testing
organization designated by the Division of Workers'
Compensation. (Labor Code §4600)
Existing law also provides that an employer does not need to pay
for a non-certified interpreter unless the interpreter provides
interpretation services for a language where certification has
not been established. (Labor Code §4600)
Existing law requires the State Personnel Board designate the
languages for which certification shall be established. The
languages designated shall include, but not be limited to,
Spanish, Tagalog, Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean,
Portuguese, and Vietnamese until the State Personnel Board finds
that there is an insufficient need for interpreting assistance
in these languages. (Government Code §11435.40)
Existing law requires the State Personnel Board to establish,
maintain, administer, and publish annually an updated list of
certified administrative hearing interpreters it has determined
meet the minimum standards in interpreting skills and linguistic
abilities in languages designated by the State Personnel Board.
(Government Code §11435.30)
Existing law requires the State Personnel Board to establish,
maintain, administer, and publish annually, an updated list of
certified medical examination interpreters it has determined
meet the minimum standards in interpreting skills and linguistic
abilities in languages designated by the State Personnel Board.
(Government Code §11435.35)
This bill would do the following:
1) Require that the Department of Human Resources
(successor to the State Personnel Board) update the
certified interpreter lists only until December 31, 2018;
2) Require the Department of Human Resources to maintain
and publish the lists as of December 31, 2013; and
3) Shift the responsibility for designating the list of
Hearing Date: June 12, 2013 AB 1376
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
languages requiring certification from the Department of
Human Resources to the Division of Workers' Compensation.
This bill would also create a qualification process for
administrative hearings. Specifically, this bill would:
1) Require that all interpreters used in administrative
hearings are qualified;
2) Require that any interpreter who is certified be
presumptively qualified; and
3) Allows agencies to provisionally qualify and use
interpreters.
In order to be provisionally qualified, both of the following
must be true:
(1) Good cause exists to appoint a nonlisted interpreter; and
(2) The interpreter is qualified to interpret the proceedings.
In determining whether the interpreter is qualified, the hearing
examiner or agency, as appropriate, shall consider all of the
following:
a) Any interpreter examination or evaluation taken by the
interpreter and the results of this examination or
evaluation.
b) The interpreter's general education, language training,
interpreting training, and translation training.
c) The interpreter's language teaching experience.
d) The interpreter's prior experience interpreting in court
proceedings, administrative hearings, medical examinations,
and other settings.
e) The interpreter's experience with written translation.
f) Any training in professional ethics.
g) The interpreter's training in applicable terminology.
This bill would also require that if any party objects to the
qualifications of the proposed interpreter, the objection must
be noted on the record of the hearing or evaluation.
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
COMMENTS
1. AB 1376, in a Nutshell:
AB 1376 would allow the Department of Human Resources (CalHR),
the successor organization to the State Personnel Board, to
get out of the business of certifying interpreters and
maintaining, publishing, and updating the list of certified
interpreters for administrative hearings. Instead, AB 1376
would:
1) Shift the responsibility for certifying interpreters and
creating a list of certified interpreters to the Division
of Workers' Compensation (presumably by a designed
third-party); and
2) Create a specific process for provisionally qualified
interpreters for administrative hearings.
2. Need for this bill?
Currently, due to budget constraints, the Department of Human
Resources is not offering certification exams for
administrative hearing and medical interpreter certification.
The end result, according to proponents of this measure, is
that there simply are not enough interpreters in the workers'
compensation system for injured workers who are not English
proficient. During discussions with stakeholders during the
workers' compensation reform process, several stated that this
led to the use of provisional interpreters that were of mixed
ability to provide relevant interpreter services.
Senate Bill 863 (DeLeon), Statutes of 2012, Chapter 363,
attempts to address this by allowing the Division of Workers'
Compensation to use an independent third party testing entity
for certifying interpreters.
AB 1376 seeks to further this reform by placing the Division
of Workers' Compensation in charge of defining the list of
language that require certification, as well as specifying
standards by which interpreters are provisionally qualified.
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
3. Proponent Arguments :
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities (CAJPA)
argues that setting out a process where the Administrative
Director (AD) of the Division of Workers' Compensation (DWC)
is given oversight and responsibility for establishing,
maintaining, administering, and publishing an annual updated
list of certified medical examination interpreters will
expedite claim resolution in the long term. Additionally,
CAJPA notes that AB 1376 provides a process of provisionally
qualifying interpreters, which CAJPA believes will improve the
quality of interpreter services. With these two key reforms,
CAJPA argues that AB 1376 will improve the workers'
compensation system for both injured workers and employers in
providing high quality, time-sensitive, and necessary
interpreter service.
4. Opponent Arguments :
None on file.
5. Prior Legislation :
SB 863 (DeLeon), Statutes of 2012, Chapter 363, among other
things, allowed the Division of Workers' Compensation to
establish, maintain, administer, and publish annually an
updated list of certified administrative hearing interpreters
who have been certified by an independent testing organization
designated by the administrative director.
SUPPORT
California Association of Joint Powers Authorities (CAJPA)
OPPOSITION
Hearing Date: June 12, 2013 AB 1376
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations
None on file.
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Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations