HF 1826

as introduced - 80th Legislature (1997 - 1998) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to education; establishing a pilot 
  1.3             interpreting and translating program at campuses of 
  1.4             the Minnesota state colleges and universities; 
  1.5             providing training and professional services through 
  1.6             the University of Minnesota; appropriating money. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  [INTERPRETING AND TRANSLATING PROGRAM.] 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [CHARGE.] The board of trustees of the 
  1.10  Minnesota state colleges and universities shall implement a 
  1.11  program for the preparation and certification of bilingual 
  1.12  interpreters and translators skilled in English and other 
  1.13  languages, as provided in this section.  The languages of the 
  1.14  program shall include those most widely spoken regionally in 
  1.15  Minnesota by persons handicapped in communication because of a 
  1.16  lack of proficiency in the English language.  The purpose of the 
  1.17  program is to enhance the quality and availability of bilingual 
  1.18  services and interpreting and translating services provided by 
  1.19  state agencies and health care facilities serving the public. 
  1.20     Subd. 2.  [DEFINITIONS.] For the purposes of this section 
  1.21  and section 2, the following definitions apply: 
  1.22     (a) "Bilingual skills" means the ability of a service 
  1.23  provider to communicate with clients both in English and in some 
  1.24  other particular language concerning work-related matters with a 
  1.25  degree of comprehension, fluency, comprehensibility, and 
  1.26  expressiveness comparable to what is expected of a monolingual 
  2.1   English speaker in the same occupation.  A service provider with 
  2.2   certified bilingual skills is able to communicate with and 
  2.3   provide services to a client who does not speak English, without 
  2.4   the assistance of an interpreter.  This qualification is in 
  2.5   addition to and does not replace the usual qualifications 
  2.6   expected of an individual providing a given service. 
  2.7      (b) "Community interpreter" means a person who is able to 
  2.8   orally interpret spoken communication between a service provider 
  2.9   or other professional and a client, each speaking a different 
  2.10  language, with consistent accuracy and comprehensibility, and 
  2.11  who knows and is held to the ethical and professional standards 
  2.12  of the interpreting profession.  Certification as a community 
  2.13  interpreter means that an individual has demonstrated generalist 
  2.14  skills in interpreting adequate for many interpreting 
  2.15  situations, but not the more advanced and specialized knowledge 
  2.16  and skills required of a fully qualified legal or medical 
  2.17  interpreter or conference interpreter. 
  2.18     Subd. 3.  [BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES.] (a) The board of 
  2.19  trustees of the Minnesota state colleges and universities shall 
  2.20  organize and offer to qualified students a program of training 
  2.21  in bilingual skills and community interpreting to include at a 
  2.22  minimum a sequence of five courses as outlined in the plan 
  2.23  submitted to the legislature by the board in January, 1996.  
  2.24  This curriculum shall be offered on three of its campuses, 
  2.25  geographically distributed, during the 1998-1999 academic year.  
  2.26  The board shall contract with a provider or providers to offer 
  2.27  training to health care facilities, social services, and 
  2.28  educational institutions on how to organize bilingual and 
  2.29  interpreting services and how to work effectively with 
  2.30  interpreters.  The training shall be offered in the form of 
  2.31  consultations and workshops of one to two hours duration. 
  2.32     (b) The board shall administer, on an annual basis, the 
  2.33  certification examinations developed at the University of 
  2.34  Minnesota in three locations statewide.  The examinations shall 
  2.35  be offered in at least the language pairs for which training has 
  2.36  been offered, beginning in 1999.  Examination fees adequate to 
  3.1   cover the cost of administration of the examinations shall be 
  3.2   charged.  Individuals shall be permitted to sit for the 
  3.3   examinations who have not enrolled in or completed the 
  3.4   preparatory curriculum.  Individuals who pass the examinations 
  3.5   shall be awarded a bilingual skills certificate or a community 
  3.6   interpreter certificate as appropriate. 
  3.7      Sec. 2.  [REGENTS' RESPONSIBILITIES.] 
  3.8      Subdivision 1.  [TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.] The board of 
  3.9   regents of the University of Minnesota is requested to provide 
  3.10  ongoing technical assistance over two years and offer a program 
  3.11  of staff training to instructors selected by the board of 
  3.12  trustees of the Minnesota state colleges and universities to 
  3.13  support the development and delivery of certificate or degree 
  3.14  programs in bilingual skills and community interpreting at three 
  3.15  Minnesota state college and university institutions during the 
  3.16  1998-1999 academic year.  Intensive staff training should begin 
  3.17  by the summer of 1998. 
  3.18     Subd. 2.  [CERTIFICATION.] The board is requested to 
  3.19  develop certification examinations at appropriate levels in 
  3.20  bilingual skills and community interpreting.  The examinations 
  3.21  should be made available to the Minnesota state colleges and 
  3.22  universities in versions for each of the languages for which 
  3.23  bilingual skills and community interpreter training is offered 
  3.24  by the Minnesota state colleges and universities. 
  3.25     Subd. 3.  [TRANSLATING SERVICES.] The board is requested to 
  3.26  develop the capacity of the University of Minnesota to provide 
  3.27  professional translation services, such as translation of 
  3.28  written texts into and out of English, and to provide 
  3.29  educational opportunities for students of translation in the 
  3.30  form of supervised apprenticeships in the University's Minnesota 
  3.31  translation laboratory.  The regents should make the 
  3.32  university's translation services available at a favorable cost 
  3.33  to state and county agencies statewide. 
  3.34     Subd. 4.  [ADVANCED STUDIES.] The board is requested to 
  3.35  develop and offer to qualified students, a program of advanced 
  3.36  studies to prepare interpreters for certification and employment 
  4.1   in the interpreting specialties, including at least health care 
  4.2   interpreting and legal interpreting.  These courses should be 
  4.3   available for persons who have passed the certification exam in 
  4.4   community interpreting and who have at least two years of higher 
  4.5   education.  In developing a curriculum at this level the regents 
  4.6   are encouraged to seek input from the center for cross-cultural 
  4.7   health, and the Minnesota supreme court.  Language-specific 
  4.8   courses should be offered in all languages in which the 
  4.9   Minnesota supreme court proposed to certify interpreters prior 
  4.10  to 1999. 
  4.11     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATIONS.] 
  4.12     Subdivision 1.  [MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES AND 
  4.13  UNIVERSITIES.] $55,000 is appropriated in fiscal year 1998 from 
  4.14  the general fund to the board of trustees of the Minnesota state 
  4.15  colleges and universities for the purposes of section 1.  This 
  4.16  appropriation shall be available for the biennium. 
  4.17     Subd. 2.  [UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA.] $220,000 is 
  4.18  appropriated in fiscal year 1998 to the board of regents of the 
  4.19  University of Minnesota for the purposes of section 2.  This 
  4.20  appropriation shall be available for the biennium.