2020/11/10 Council Agenda Packet

WASHINGTON COURTS August 28, 2020 • ADMINISTRATNE OFFICE OF THE COURTS Dawn Marie Rubio, J.D. State Court Administrator Dear Interpreter Reimbursement Program Courts, We are pleased to invite your court to participate in the Court Interpreter Reimbursement Program for state fiscal year 2020-2021, which runs from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Enclosed is the Program contract for your review and signature. Many of you are aware that in 2019 the Washington State Legislature approved additional funding to expand the Court interpreter Reimbursement Program. This year marks the first year of the expansion to courts who have never had the opportunity to participate in the Program before. The focus for the first year is to bring on courts located in rural areas of our state who often work with the least amount of resources and experience the greatest challenges in obtaining court credentialed interpreters. We believe that the expansion of the Program could not have come at a better time. We are all living in unprecedented times with the impacts of COVID-19 reaching every corner of our state. Each court is having to realize and adapt to unknown and unchartered territory every day. Our courts have been resilient in innovating processes to continue to meet the needs of the community. We hope that the funding provided by the Reimbursement Program will help courts keep language access in the forefront of these new innovations. One of the major changes to the Program this year is the ability to be reimbursed for goods and services that enhance language access in the courts. Courts will now be able use their Reimbursement Program funds for translation of forms and websites. They can purchase items that will allow for safe in -person interpreting, such as voice transponder units. They can also use their funding to support training for staff interested in becoming court credentialed interpreters. We hope that these changes will allow your court to improve language access in these vastly different times, and in ways that you haven't been able to in the past The purpose of the Program, and the changes made in anticipation of the Program's expansion, were to enhance language access in the Washington State courts, and to create an easier and more efficient program for you. If you have any questions about the Program or your contracts, please contact Michelle Bellmer, AOC Court Program Specialist, at Michelle. Bellmer©a courts.wa.gov. Thank you, lib.4.6477 /2/ zrz)it, Dawn Marie Rubio, J.D. State Court Administrator STATE OF WASHINGTON 1206 QUINCE ST SE • P.O. Box 41170 • Olympia, WA 98504-1170 360-753-3365 • 360-586-8869 Fax • www.courts.wa.gov