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CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5025 Chapter 255, Laws of 2025 69TH LEGISLATURE 2025 REGULAR SESSION EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETERS—VARIOUS PROVISIONS EFFECTIVE DATE: July 27, 2025 Passed by the Senate April 21, 2025 Yeas 48 Nays 0 JOHN LOVICK President of the Senate Passed by the House March 26, 2025 Yeas 98 Nays 0 LAURIE JINKINS Speaker of the House of Representatives CERTIFICATE I, Sarah Bannister, Secretary of the Senate of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5025 as passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives on the dates hereon set forth. SARAH BANNISTER Secretary Secretary Approved May 13, 2025 9:51 AM FILED May 14, 2025 BOB FERGUSON Governor of the State of Washington Secretary of State State of Washington SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5025 AS AMENDED BY THE HOUSE Passed Legislature - 2025 Regular Session State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session By Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education (originally sponsored by Senators Lovick, Nobles, Salomon, Trudeau, Valdez, Wellman, and C. Wilson) READ FIRST TIME 02/06/25. AN ACT Relating to educational interpreters; and amending RCW 28A.410.271. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON: Sec. 1. RCW 28A.410.271 and 2017 c 34 s 1 are each amended to read as follows: (1) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise. (a) "Educational ((interpreters" means school district employees ))interpreter" means a person , whether certificated or classified, providing sign language interpretation, transliteration, or both, and further explanation of concepts introduced by the teacher for students who are deaf, deaf-blind, or hard of hearing. (b) "Educational interpreter assessment" means an assessment that includes both written assessment and performance assessment that is offered by a national organization of professional sign language interpreters and transliterators, and is designed to assess performance in more than one sign system or sign language. (c) "Interpretation" means conveying one language in the form of another language. (d) "Transliteration" means conveying one language in a different modality of the same language. (2) The professional educator standards board shall: (a) Adopt standards for educational interpreters ((and identify ))including, as necessary, separate standards for deaf and deaf-blind educational interpreters; (b) Identify and publicize educational interpreter assessments that are available and meet the requirements in this section; ((and (b) ))(c) Establish a full performance standard and a limited performance standard for each educational interpreter assessment for the purposes of this section, defining what constitutes a minimum assessment result((. (3)(a) )); and (d) Establish criteria for educational interpreter certifications based on meeting the standards established under this subsection. (3)(a) The professional educator standards board shall establish certificates for deaf and deaf-blind educational interpreters based on criteria established under subsection (2) of this section. (b)(i) Each category of certificates established under (a) of this subsection must be categorized as follows: (A) A certificate granted to an individual who has met the limited performance standard but has not met the full performance standard for an educational interpreter assessment under subsection (2)(c) of this section is considered a limited certificate and may only have a period of validity of up to five years from the date of the issuance of the certificate; and (B) A certificate granted to an individual who has met the full performance standard for an educational interpreter assessment under subsection (2)(c) of this section is considered a full certificate and has a period of validity as determined by the professional educator standards board. (ii) The professional educator standards board may adopt rules that add additional requirements for educational interpreters who have not previously worked in a role as an educational interpreter prior to September 1, 2026. (c) By December 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, the professional educator standards board shall make data publicly available relating to educational interpreter certification including, but not limited to, the number of each type of certificate granted, demographic information of certificate recipients, and the geographic distribution of certificate grantees. (4)(a) Through the end of the 2026-27 school year, educational interpreters must have successfully achieved the performance standard established by the professional educator standards board on one of the educational interpreter assessments identified by the board. An educational interpreter who has not successfully achieved such a performance standard may provide or continue providing educational interpreter services to students subject to the requirements of (c) of this subsection. (b) Except as otherwise provided by this section, by the beginning of the ((2016-17 ))2027-28 school year, educational interpreters ((who are employed by school districts )) must have successfully ((achieved the performance standard ))obtained a certificate established by the professional educator standards board ((on one of the educational interpreter assessments identified by the board ))under subsection (3) of this section . Evaluations and assessments for educational interpreters for which the board has not established a performance standard or certificate may be obtained as supplemental demonstrations of professional proficiency but may not be used as evidence of compliance with this subsection (((3)(a) ))(4)(b) . (((b) An ))(c) Beginning in the 2027-28 school year, an educational interpreter who has not successfully ((achieved the performance standard required by (a) of this subsection ))obtained a limited certificate may provide or continue providing educational interpreter services to students for one calendar year after receipt of his or her most recent educational interpreter assessment results, or ((eighteen ))18 months after completing his or her most recent educational interpreter assessment, whichever period is longer, if he or she can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the employing school or school district, ongoing efforts to successfully achieve the ((required performance standard ))full certificate established under subsection (3) of this section . In making a determination under this subsection (((3)(b) ))(4)(c) , the employing school or school district may consult with the professional educator standards board. For purposes of this subsection (((3)(b) ))(4)(c) , "educational interpreter" includes persons employed as educational interpreters before the 2016-17 school year. (((4) By December 31, 2013, the professional educator standards board shall recommend to the education committees of the house of representatives and the senate how to appropriately use the national interpreter certification and the educational interpreter performance assessment for educational interpreters in Washington public schools ))(d) The professional educator standards board may adopt rules to limit the number of times an educational interpreter may take an educational interpreter assessment for the purposes of qualifying for a certificate under this section . (5) When conducting the activities required under subsection (2) of this section and drafting any rules to implement this section, the professional educator standards board must consult with a college or university that provides interpreter training in Washington and that is accredited by an accrediting association recognized by the student achievement council under its rules. (6) The provisions of this section do not apply to educational interpreters employed to interpret a sign system or sign language, including nonsigning interpretation such as oral interpreting, computer-assisted real time captioning, and cued speech transliteration, for which an educational interpreter assessment either does not exist or, as determined by the professional educator standards board, is not capable of being evaluated by the board for suitability as a performance standard in Washington. Passed by the Senate April 21, 2025. Passed by the House March 26, 2025. Approved by the Governor May 13, 2025. Filed in Office of Secretary of State May 14, 2025.
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