Regulations Governing Interpreter Requirements, State-by-State

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District of Columbia  Florida  Georgia  Hawaii  Idaho  Illinois  Indiana  Iowa  Kansas 
Kentucky  Louisiana Maine  Maryland  Massachusetts  Michigan  Minnesota  Mississippi 
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New York  North Carolina  North Dakota  Ohio  Oklahoma  Oregon  Pennsylvania 
Rhode Island  South Carolina  South Dakota  Tennessee  Texas  Utah  Vermont 
Virginia  Washington  West Virginia  Wisconsin  Wyoming   

State

Certification/Licensure Requirements by Venue

Notes

Website

Governing Body

Contact Person

Mailing Address

 

Email Address

Phone

Fax

Last Updated

Key: Nat'l=National Certification required; 
State=State Certification and/or Licensure required
If it is blank, this means that no certification/licensure is required, or we have been unable to obtain the necessary information

Schools

Courts

State Agencies

Medical

All Venues

None Required

Maine State State State State State
 
State licensure is required ($300 annually), but not national certification. http://www.state.me.us/pfr/olr/categories/cat22.htm Office of Licensing & Regulation Elaine Thibodeau, Administrator #35 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0035
  elaine.m.thibodeau@maine.gov  207-624-8617 207-624-8637 4/12/2004
Maryland          
X
See information here on state's task force:

http://mlis.state.md.us/2002rs/bills/hb/hb0320f.rtf 

                4/1/2005
Massachusetts   Nat'l Nat'l Nat'l  

 

For legal/court work, an interpreter must either have their SC:L, and/or a minimum of CI/CT both for 5 years plus, then take 80 hour of legal classroom training, plus 100 hours of mentoring. (combined hands-on, observation and discussion time with mentor). All interpreters must interview with Director of Interpreter/CART in order to be MCDHH approved for legal/court jobs, even if holding SC:L. http://www.state.ma.us/mcdhh/index.html Massachusetts Commission for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Karen Higgins, Director of Interpreter Referral 150 Mount Vernon Street
Suite 550
Boston, MA 02125
  Karen.Higgins@state.ma.us  800-882-1155 617-740-1699 12/6/2003
Michigan          

X

 
Michigan DHS - http://www.michigan.gov/dhs/0,1607,7-124-5460_7260_7268-14878-,00.html 

Deaf Person's Interpreter Act - http://www.michigan.gov/dhs/0,1607,7-124-5460_7260_21386-66364--,00.html 

http://www.michigan.gov/fia/0%2C1607%2C7-124-5460_7260---%2C00.html

 - Deaf Persons’ Interpreters Act (Act 204 of 1982, section 393.503) http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0 ,1607,7-154-28077_28545_28558-66364--,00.html

-Code of Professional Conduct for Interpreters in Michigan Courts http://www.courts.michigan.gov/SCAO/resources/other/interpreterconduct.pdf 

Commission on Disability Concerns - Division on Deaf and Hard of Hearing Dan Vivian, Chair 320 N. Washington Sq. 
Lansing, MI 48913
  dod@michigan.gov  877-499-6232 517-334-6637 5/11/2006
Minnesota State or Nat'l        

 

Current legislation reads:

122A.31 American sign language/English interpreters.

Subdivision 1. Requirements for American sign language/English interpreters. (a) In addition to any other requirements that a school district establishes, any person employed to provide American sign language/English interpreting or sign transliterating services on a full-time or part-time basis for a school district after July 1, 2000, must:

(1) hold current interpreter and transliterator certificates awarded by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID), or the general level interpreter proficiency certificate awarded by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD), or a comparable state certification from the commissioner of education; and

(2) satisfactorily complete an interpreter/transliterator training program affiliated with an accredited educational institution.

http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/stats/122A/31.html               12/6/2003
Mississippi          

X

At this juncture, Mississippi neither requires certification nor licensure for educational interpreters.  Rather, LEAs submit qualifications of person(s) who desire to be Educational Interpreters to the MDE-OSE where resume/background is reviewed prior to approval of funding for Educational Interpreters.   Task Force Gina Sherman     SigGina@aol.com      10/8/2004
Missouri EIPA State State State State   For the EIPA, Uses a calculation to align with state QAST, not psychometrically valid or sanctioned

Licensure and certification required to practice anywhere within the state. 

Eligibility for evaluation.
209.302. An evaluation shall be available to the following, including, but not limited to:
(1) New interpreters;
(2) Uncertified, qualified interpreters;
(3) Certified interpreters, advancing to another certification level;
(4) An interpreter who is certified by a certification system other than the commission;
(5) Uncertified interpreters who have not interpreted for one year or more; and
(6) Interpreter trainers.

(L. 1994 S.B. 568 § 6 subsec. 4)
http://www.moga.state.mo.us/STATUTES/C209.HTM

http://www.moga.state.mo.us/statutes/C200-299/2090000302.HTM 

http://www.mcdhh.state.mo.us/mics_main.htm 

Missouri State Committee of Interpreters Pamela Groose, Executive Director 3605 Missouri Boulevard
P. O. Box 1335
Jefferson City, MO 65102-1335
  interp@mail.state.mo.us  573-526-7787 573-526-3489 4/27/2004
Montana          

X

  Regarding use of interpreter in judicial/administrative proceedings - http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/mca/49/4/49-4-503.htm                4/1/2005
Nebraska EIPA Nat'l Nat'l       Proposed legislation - go to: http://www.360translations.com/burnsat/Hearing%20Draft%2001[1].31.04.doc  - this is a rather large Word doc and will take a while to open. You may also go to the following for more info: http://srvwww.unicam.state.ne.us/pdfs/XCVII/final/FINAL_LB22_1.pdf  - btw, you need Acrobat Reader to open this - that utility is available free on the web - let me know if you need the link to d/l it.

This bill identified above is the final reading back in 2002, posted to their site in 2003. It does not indicate whether it passed or not - I can only assume it didn't.

Going to http://www.nol.org/home/NCDHH/Interp_Guide.pdf you will find that educational interpreters must be "qualified" and that this means they must have one or more of the following: 1) RID certification (which one?); 2) NAD level 4 or above certification; 3) EIPA level 3.5 or above; and 4) QAST level 4 or above. There are all sorts of clauses in this "guide" that provide for exemptions or a "staying" of these requirements, but the bottom line is that educational interpreters in Nebraska must meet minimum standards (certified, minimum level, etc.).

There is a Nebraska Sign Language Interpreter Review Board http://www.nol.org/home/NCDHH/Interp_Licens_Board.htm  which is charged with licensing interpreters who work for any entity in the state that receives state money. 
http://www.nol.org/home/NCDHH/index.htm

Nebraska Guidelines for Education Interpreters - Acrobat (PDF) file - http://www.nol.org/home/NCDHH/education_interp_guideline.pdf#search='kansas%20guidelines%20for%20educational%20interpreters

Nebraska Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Tanya Wendel, Executive Director 4600 Valley Road 
Suite 420 
Lincoln, NE 68510-4844
  lstaff@ncdhh.state.ne.us  402-471-3593 402-471-3067 1/2/2004
Nevada EIPA State State State State   The state requires a 4.0 or above on the EIPA for Educational Interpreters.

State law pertaining to interpreters can be found at http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-656A.html. Many exceptions exist within this law based mainly upon purported shortages of interpreters who meet the requirements of the legislation. 

 

http://www.leg.state.nv.us/NRS/NRS-656A.html   Carolyn Bass     caroline_bass@ccsn.edu     6/8/2005