§ 203. Procurement of Certified or Otherwise Qualified Interpreters.
(a) Once the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator or his or her designee is made aware of the need for an interpreter, he or she shall procure a certified interpreter in the manner provided by the guidelines established by the Court Administrator for the appointment of certified interpreters.
(b) If the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator or his or her designee cannot procure a certified interpreter in the manner set forth in subsection (a), he or she shall procure an otherwise qualified interpreter in the manner provided by the guidelines established by the Court Administrator for the appointment of otherwise qualified interpreters.
(c) Courts shall utilize existing mechanisms available in statewide case management systems and shall develop mechanisms in conjunction with their filing offices to track the need for an interpreter throughout the life cycle of a case.
Comment The regulations do not require that only one person be designated by the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator to handle requests for interpreters. For example, in addition to the LAC, the designee for common pleas interpreter requests may be the District Court Administrator, while for cases in the magisterial district courts, the deputy or assistant court administrator may be designated. A complete list of LACs is available on the Language Access & Interpreter Program page of the UJS website, http://www.pacourts.us.
In the case of a deaf or hard of hearing juror, the District Court Administrator or his or her designee should follow the judicial district’s existing policies pursuant to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § § 12101 et seq., to ensure proper accommodation of a deaf or hard of hearing juror. Juror summonses and/or questionnaires should advise prospective jurors to give notice of need for an accommodation prior to the date they report for jury duty.
Subsection (a) requires the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator or his or her designee to follow the Court Administrator’s guidelines for appointing a certified interpreter and to make the necessary arrangements to secure the interpreter’s services for the judicial proceeding if one is found. If a certified interpreter cannot be found, subsection (b) requires the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator or his or her designee to obtain an otherwise qualified interpreter in the manner provided in the Court Administrator’s guidelines. In procuring either a certified or otherwise qualified interpreter, and when the person requiring the interpreter is a person with limited English proficiency, the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator or his or her designee may obtain the services of an interpreter to interpret remotely subject to the limitations of § 104. In the event that neither a certified nor an otherwise qualified interpreter can be procured, the Appellate Court Prothonotary/District Court Administrator or his or her designee shall contact the AOPC for guidance.
The requirement in subsection (c) comes from the Language Access Plan for the Unified Judicial System (UJS-LAP), available at http://www.pacourts.us. UJS-LAP at 31, ‘‘Documentation of Language Needs.’’
Source The provisions of this § 203 amended November 22, 2021, effective January 1, 2022, 51 Pa.B. 7415. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (349438) to (349440).
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