North Carolina Interpreter/Transliterator Licensing Board

North Carolina Interpreter/Transliterator Licensing Board VR Conference Room – Ruggles Drive Raleigh, North Carolina

September 14, 2007

Board Officers present: Jim Sewell, Chair Kathy Beetham, Treasurer Tzena Keyes, Secretary Jim Wellons, Board Counsel Laurie Shaw, Executive Secretary, Central Office

Board Members present: Keith Cagle, Linda Harrington, Connie Jo Lewis

Interpreters present: Christina Suggs, Amy Markin

Visitors: Vanessa Barrett, Monica King, Alice Poteat – Students at Wilson Tech; Allison Visco – intern with Fluent Language Solutions; Carmen Green – Arizona Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; Suzanne Anderson-Ruble, Deputy Director – New Mexico Commission for the Deaf

The meeting was called to order at 9:20 am. The board agreed to operate the meeting with a flexible agenda. Added to the agenda was Connie Jo Lewis with an update regarding Site Translations.

Conflict of Interest Statement: Chair asked: “Is there a conflict of interest for anyone in reference with today’s agenda?” No conflicts were perceived. However, if at any point during the meeting a potential conflict comes up, we will note that conflict in the minutes.

Minutes: Minutes were approved as corrected.

Financials: Kathy reported that as of the end of August we have $45,000 in the checking account. Renewals are starting to come which is the reason for that amount. Expenditures include legal services, management fees, accountant fees for audit, contracted services such as interpreting services and board travel, postage, etc.

Report from Central Office: The audit for 2005-2006 is complete (see attachment). The audit for 2006-2007 is scheduled for November. Laurie has received a question about an oath for courtroom interpreters. Renewals are coming in slowly. New licenses issued since last board meeting: 3; new provisional licenses issued since last board meeting: 9.

Education Committee Report: Debbie Batts was unable to attend today’s meeting.

Site Translation: Connie Jo researched site translations and found a paper which has become a good reference. She found equivalents to the interpreting that we currently do. The title of the research paper is “Sight Translation and Interpreting, A Comparative Analysis of Constraints and Failures” by Marjorie Agrifoglio. (Article attached) According to the research, site translation of frozen text is often more difficult to interpret than interpreting the meaning of spoken language. Connie Jo recommends that we consider requiring a license for individuals providing site translation services. Discussion occurred. Documents should be considered the 3rd person because individuals are interpreting another individual’s work. Board counsel advises that we would need to seek an amendment to the law to clarify. There will probably be opposition to the change. We could make a change to clarify the rules; however, anyone who has frozen texts would be opposed. Jim Wellons also recommends that we choose different terminology such as site reading instead of site translation. However, the term site translation is the industry term used in research, books, etc. This will be added to a list of things to consider when we seek legislative change or clarification.

Jim Wellons – Board Counsel Report: We have completed this rule making process for amendments to the law as of August 1, 2007. We have no current litigation. A question was raised about an on-going situation involving a non-licensed interpreter. We have received another report that the situation is continuing even though a cease and desist letter has been sent. We are encouraging consumers to file complaints.

Licensure Committee Report: Linda Harrington reported that they met on June 8, 2007 and discussed two situations. One situation was related to renewal. The other situation was a question regarding receiving CEU credit for teaching an ASL class.

RID/EIPA Recognition and Clarification: In order for an EIPA Certified interpreter to receive a license, they must meet 3 criteria: 1) have passed the EIPA written test, 2) have passed the EIPA performance test at 4.0 or above, and 3) be a current RID member.

FAQ’s: Agenda item to be continued to next board meeting.

Expense Reimbursement: Send reimbursement requests to Laurie.

We had visitors from out-of-state who are in the process of developing their state’s licensure laws. Jim Sewell explained our board positions and responded to questions from our visitors. Meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

Next scheduled NCITLB meeting: December 14, 2007 - 9:00 am VR Conference Room Ruggles Drive, Raleigh