AB 444 Charts a Course for Justice in Any
Language
As a result of AB 444, the supreme court will adopt
policies and procedures to recruit, train, test, and retain qualified
court interpreters. AB 444 also increases the fee paid to
interpreters.
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 Rep. Terri McCormick (R -
Appleton) is serving her first term in the State Assembly, representing
the 56th Assembly District. In addition to her duties as the vice chair
of the Judiciary Committee, she serves on the State and Local Finance;
Insurance, Labor and Workforce Development; Education Reform; and Public
Health committees. |
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by Terri McCormick
ONE OF THE LARGEST problems facing Wisconsin's court
systems today is the shortage of qualified court interpreters. Court
interpreters are used to help those with language barriers and hearing
impediments navigate their way through complex court proceedings.
Without adequate certification, training, and coordination, Wisconsin's
72 counties are left without a compass in guaranteeing constitutional
rights. Without a qualified interpreter, a party who speaks or hears no
English cannot listen to testimony, challenge evidence, or consult with
an attorney in a courtroom proceeding.
With Census Bureau numbers officially in, there is a confirmed,
rising population of individuals in Wisconsin with limited English
proficiency, which is the inability to adequately understand or
communicate effectively in English, in a court proceeding. The
population of Hispanics, Hmongs, and Asian-Pacific Islanders has grown
dramatically over the past decade, and, according to the Director of
State Courts Office, reimbursements to counties for court interpreters
have gone up from $112,900 in 1994 to $248,800 in 2001. That number is
expected to keep rising over the next decade.
The Committee to Improve Interpreting and Translation in the
Wisconsin Courts was commissioned in 1999 to study this issue and give
long-term recommendations. The committee proposed expanding the current
court interpreter statute. My visits to circuit court branches in
Outagamie and Winnebago counties in May of this year have reinforced the
committee's recommendation: a training and testing program must be
developed to improve the quality of court interpreters.
As the vice chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, I believe it
is the Legislature's duty to revamp the court interpreter statute. That
is why I have introduced Assembly Bill 444. This bill requires the
Wisconsin Supreme Court to adopt policies and procedures to recruit,
train, test, and retain qualified interpreters. The bill also requests
that the supreme court cooperate with the technical college system in
training and testing interpreters and that the fees paid to interpreters
increase from $35 per half day to $35 per hour.
In addition to introducing AB 444, I pushed for this legislation's
inclusion in the recently passed 2001-2003 Wisconsin state budget.
Unfortunately, only half of this provision was approved due to tight
fiscal constraints. Although the money was earmarked to increase the
state reimbursement rate to counties for court interpreters, the
appropriation for the project interpreter coordinator position was
vetoed.
While I am pleased that the additional dollars were included for the
counties, I believe that without the approval of the coordinator
position, it will be difficult to estimate the long-term costs. For
instance, if a murder case results in a mistrial or an appeal due to an
interpreter's incompetence, there is no telling what the costs would be
to the victim's family and society. Without this position, there will be
no training, certification, or shared pool of court interpreters for the
counties. Even though most of the language included in AB 444 was passed
in the state budget, I will continue to fight for this much-needed
position.
The appointment of court interpreters is laid out in Wis. Stat.
section 885.37, which requires the court to inform an individual that he
or she has the right to an interpreter. If a party cannot afford an
interpreter, then one is to be provided at the public's expense. Herein
lies the problem - basic statutory and constitutional rights must be
guaranteed. Given the recent population trends and rising costs to
administer these programs, statewide coordination of the interpreter
program is critical. Without qualified interpreters to help direct
individuals through the courts, basic constitutional rights are
jeopardized.
Under current law, courts can use interpreters who have a nominal
amount of training. In fact, counties that cannot provide court
interpreters, due to insufficient funds from the state, must rely on
individuals who lack adequate knowledge of basic court proceedings and
due process. Too often, clerks of courts scramble to provide minimally
prepared individuals to fill basic sign language and foreign language
needs of the court.
The right to counsel is grounded in the U.S. and Wisconsin
constitutions. It is my hope that the remainder of AB 444 will be passed
this session to include the project interpreter coordinator position.
Without this position to facilitate the training and certification of
court interpreters, there is no minimum standard guaranteeing the most
basic of individual rights.
I look forward to working with the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the
Director of State Courts Office, and the State Bar on this critical
legislation.
Wisconsin Lawyer
