Do you believe that litigants involved in lawsuits should pay for all the expenses related to their actions, except for court interpreters? Currently, Gov. Jerry Brown is considering a $7 million expansion in his budget for language assistance in civil court.
The Judicial Council of California’s Language Access Plan (LAP) Implementation Task Force has scheduled a community outreach meeting to discuss implementation of the LAP in the California Courts. This meeting will be held on March 22, 2016, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., in San Francisco:
Judicial Council Conference Center, Board Room 455 Golden Gate Ave., 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94102
AIJIC representatives will address the LAP Implementation Task Force and reiterate the position that an expansion of court-funded interpreters’ services must exclude parties who can afford to pay for interpreters, including those who have retained attorneys, even if on a contingency basis.
The LAP Implementation Task Force needs to hear from as many independents as possible on this matter. Independents would be seriously affected by an indiscriminate expansion of interpreter services in the civil arena.
If you live in the Bay Area, please attend the 3/22 meeting.
To all the other independent court interpreters in California, please email your comments to LAP@jud.ca.gov no later than March 21, 2016 at 10 am so that they can be shared with with the Task Force.
For AIJIC’s position on this matter, please click here.
For more information on the meeting, please visit www.courts.ca.gov/LAP.htm