BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          AB 2493 (Hernandez) - Workers' compensation: interpreters.
          
          Amended: July 3, 2012           Policy Vote: L&IR 5-0
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: August 6, 2012                      Consultant: 
          Bob Franzoia  
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.


          Bill Summary: AB 2493 would authorize the Department of 
          Industrial Relations to establish a list of certified 
          administrative hearing and certified medical examination 
          interpreters who, based on testing by an independent 
          organization designated by the department, have been determined 
          to meet certain minimum standards.

          Fiscal Impact: Up to $190,000 from the Workers' Compensation 
          Administrative Revolving Fund in 2012-13 and 2013-14.
              Up to $120,000 from the Workers' Compensation 
              Administrative Revolving Fund annually offset by fees.

          Background: Apparently the State Personnel Board is not offering 
          certification examinations for administrative hearing 
          interpreters and medical examination interpreters reportedly due 
          to budget constraints (though exams for court interpreter 
          certification are being offered on a limited basis).  This may 
          be causing a shortage of interpreters in the workers' 
          compensation system for injured workers who are not English 
          proficient.

          Proposed Law: This bill would, in addition to the certification 
          procedure provided in current law, authorize the department to 
          establish a list of certified administrative hearing 
          interpreters and certified medical examination interpreters  
          who, based on testing by an independent organization designated 
          by the department, have been determined to meet the minimum 
          standards in interpreting skills and linguistic abilities in 
          languages for purposes of administrative hearings conducted 
          pursuant to proceedings of the Workers' Compensation Appeals 
          Board.









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          The independent testing organization shall have no financial 
          interest in the training of interpreters or in the employment of 
          interpreters for administrative hearings.

          A fee, as determined by the department, shall be collected from 
          each interpreter seeking certification.  The fee shall not 
          exceed the reasonable regulatory costs of administering the 
          program and of publishing the list of certified administrative 
          hearing interpreters on the department's Internet Web site.

          Staff Comments: It is unclear why (1) increasing examination 
          fees to order to support the current testing infrastructure or 
          (2) consolidating these examinations with those given for court 
          interpreters is not a more efficient solution to this problem 
          than creating an entirely new process to offer the same 
          examinations.