Chapter 179
2013 -- S 0415 SUBSTITUTE A
Enacted 07/11/13
A N A C T
RELATING TO
COURTS AND CIVIL PROCEDURE - COURTS
Introduced By: Senator William A. Walaska
Date Introduced: February 26, 2013
It is enacted by the
General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 8-5-8 of the General Laws in Chapter 8-5
entitled "Court
Secretaries, Court
Reporters, and Electronic Court Reporters" is hereby amended to read as
follows:
8-5-8. Interpreters
for deaf and hearing impaired persons. Sign language
interpreters/transilerators and Communication Access Realtime
Translation (CART)
providers for deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind persons. -- (a) In all civil and
criminal
cases, in workers' compensation, district, family, and
superior court proceedings, mental health
court competency hearings, and in the state traffic tribunal tribunals,
and in any case in any
municipal court, including, but not limited to, on-site
court-provided alternative dispute
resolution, mediation, arbitration, diversion/intervention
program or treatment; and in an
administrative, commission, or agency hearing; pursuant to chapter 18 of this title, where a party
or a witness is a person who is deaf, or
hard of hearing, or deaf-blind or a juvenile whose parent
or parents are deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind is
brought before a court for any reason,
he or
she shall have the proceedings of the trial
interpreted accessible to him or her in a language that
he or she can understand by a qualified interpreter
sign language interpreter/transliterator, or a
CART provider
appointed by the court. In any case where an interpreter a sign
language
interpreter/transliterator, or a CART provider is required to be appointed by the court under this
section, the court shall not commence proceedings until the
appointed interpreter sign language
interpreter/transliterator, or a CART provider is in court in a position not exceeding ten feet (10')
from and in full view of the person who is deaf, or
hard of hearing, or deaf-blind or hard of
hearing. The interpreter sign language interpreter/transliterator, or a
CART provider appointed
under the terms of the section shall be required to take an
oath that he or she will make a true
interpretation to make
a legally equivalent, linguistically true interpretation, transliteration, or
transcription for the
person who is deaf, or hard of hearing, or deaf-blind of
all the proceedings or
hearings of the case or claim in a language that he or
she understands; and will repeat the answer
orally transfer the meaning of the answer and any other
statements of the person who is deaf,
or
hard of hearing, or deaf-blind to questions to
counsel, or the court, or jury in the English
language, in his or her best skill and judgment with exactitude, while accurately reflecting the
form and content of the linguistic and paralinguistic
elements of the speaker's discourse.
Assistive listening
devices are other reasonable and effective auxiliary aids available
provided for the deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind who
need to maximize their engagement in
the proceedings or hearings in addition to interpreters/transliterator and/or CART providers.
(b) For the purposes of
this section, "person who is hard of hearing" means a person who
as a result of a hearing impairment, requires sign
language and/or speech reading as part of his or
her communication system. A "qualified
interpreter" means an interpreter for the person who is
hard of hearing skilled in sign language or oral
interpretation and transliteration, having the
ability to communicate accurately with a person who is deaf
or hard of hearing. An interpreter
"sign language
interpreter/transliterator" means a person who
is a certified interpreter as defined
in chapter 5-71 in providing the interpreting and
transliterating services for the deaf, hard of
hearing, and deaf-blind. "CART provider" means a
person who is a qualified communication
access realtime translation (CART)
service provider certified by the national court reporters
association. "Paralinguistic elements" means a
non-verbal element of language, including all of
the pauses, hedges, self-corrections, hesitations, and
emotion as they are conveyed through tone
of voice, word choice, level of formality, tone of
voice, and intonation. "Assistive listening device
(ALD) or assistive listening system (ALS)" means
instruments that are designed to improve a
person’s ability to hear in specific listening situations.
Some ALDs amplify a sound signal, but the
primary purpose of an ALD is to make the targeted sound
easier to hear by isolating the sound
source from surrounding noise. Examples are induction loop
systems, frequency-modulated (FM)
systems, infrared systems, and personal amplifiers. A sign
language interpreter/transliterator, or a
CART provider
shall be deemed qualified in accordance with
regulations effectuating Title II of the federal "Americans
with disabilities act of 1990", as from
time to time may be amended, Pub. L. 101-336, codified at
42 U.S.C. sec. 12101, et. seq.,
including regulations, analysis, and technical assistance and as determined by the definition of the
commission on the deaf and hard of hearing Commission
on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, based upon recommendations from the commission
and the
deaf and hard of hearing interpreter screening committee, the Rhode
Island association of the
deaf, the national registry of interpreters for the deaf, National Association of the Deaf, the
National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, the
National Hearing Loss Association of
and other appropriate agencies. The commission on the
deaf and hard of hearing Commission on
the Deaf and Hard of Hearing shall coordinate all requests for qualified interpreters
sign language
interpreters/transliterators and CART providers and shall maintain a list of all such interpreters
sign language interpreters/transliterators
and CART providers from which it
shall fill such
requests. No interpreter sign language interpreter/transliterator and CART provider is precluded
from being further examined by the court system.
(c) Interpreters
Sign language interpreters/transliterators and
CART providers appointed
under the terms of the section shall be paid by the state
or municipality a reasonable
compensation fixed by the court.
SECTION 2. Chapter 8-5 of the General Laws entitled
"Court Secretaries, Court
Reporters, and Electronic Court Reporters" is hereby
amended by adding thereto the following
sections:
8-5-8.1. Waiver of
interpreter/transliterator and CART provider. –
(a) A non-
English speaking person may at any point in the
proceeding waive the right to the services of an
interpreter/transliterator or a CART provider, but only when: (1) The waiver is
approved by the
appointing authority after explaining on the record to the
non-English speaking person through an
interpreter/transliterator or a CART provider the nature and effect of the
waiver; (2) The
appointing authority determines on the record that the waiver
has been made knowingly,
intelligently, and voluntarily; and (3) The non-English speaking
person has been afforded the
opportunity to consult with his or her attorney.
(b) At any point in
any proceeding or hearing, for good cause shown, a non-English
speaking person may retract his or her waiver and request an
interpreter/transliterator or a CART
provider.
8-5-8.2.
Privileged communications. – In the trial of
every cause, both civil and
criminal, no interpreter/transliterator
for the deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind shall be
competent to testify concerning any statement made to him or
her in connection with the
interpreter's or transliterator’s
interpretation or transliteration for the deaf, hard of hearing, and
deaf-blind, without the consent of the person making the
statement. No duly licensed
interpreter/transliterator for the deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind shall
be allowed, in giving
testimony to disclose any confidential communication, properly
entrusted to him or her in his or
her professional capacity, and necessary and proper to
enable him or her to discharge the
functions of his or her office in the usual course of practice
or discipline, without the consent of
the person making the communication.
8-5-8.3. Visual
recording of testimony. – At the request of any party to the
proceeding
or the hearing or on the appointing authority's
initiative, the appointing authority may order that
the testimony of the person who is deaf, hard of hearing,
and deaf-blind and the
interpretation/transliteration of the proceeding by the qualified interpreter/transliterator be
visually recorded for use in verification of the official
transcript of the proceeding or hearing.
In any judicial
proceeding involving a capital offense, the appointing authority may order
that the testimony of the person who is deaf, hard of
hearing, and deaf-blind and the
interpretation/transliteration of the proceeding or the hearing by the qualified
interpreter/transliterator be visually recorded for use in verification of the
official transcript of the
proceeding or the hearing.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect on July 1, 2014.
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LC01712/SUB A
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