North Carolina Interpreter/ Transliterator Licensing Board Meeting
DHHS Bldg,  1100 Navaho Dr.      9:00am       DATE:  11-04-11
Raleigh, NC      

Board Members Present:
Valerie McMillan - Chair 
Jane Dolan – Vice-Chair / Treasurer 
Danette Steelman-Bridges – Secretary 
Ashley Benton
Jan Withers
Connie Jo Lewis
Keith Cagle
Robert Taylor

Board Members Absent:
Wayne Giese
Staff Present:
Jim Wellons – Attorney
Ashley McGraw – MCi Managing Director
Shaun Barbour – MCi, President/CEO

Interpreters:
Jennifer Johnson
Liz Belk
Lee Williamson
Karen Magoon

Visitors:
None

Call to Order:  9:09am

Conflict of Interest Statement: “Does any member have any known conflict of interest or appearance of conflict with respect to any matters listed on this agenda?”   None stated.

Welcome/Announcements/Introductions:
•	Introduction of Board members, new staff and interpreters

Previous Meeting Minutes:

Robert:  Motion made to accept 08-05-11 minutes as presented.
Connie:  Second
PASSED	

Action Items:  
1.	Liability Insurance:   No one on the Board is covered for Board service by their own professional liability insurance carrier 
2.	Website:   Discussion about revisions needed on the website, the charge to the committee,  Ashley M has another website vendor who she can get a bid from, & the website should be deaf-blind friendly and as well overall user-friendly

Financial Report:
Jane submitted a working budget based on last year’s figures which included $10,000 website line item as a rough estimate of this cost to the Board.    Currently $135,000 in the bank.  
  
MOTION: Connie Jo moved to accept the budget report as presented.
Second: Jan
Passed.	

Licensing Review Committee Report: Danette Steelman-Bridges, Committee Chair 
Since 8-5-11, the cmte has met 7 times. 1 investigation conducted of a reported violation of the Lic law/Cof PC.  All the other 30+ cases have involved decisions regarding initial licensing, renewals, lost applications, requests for extensions, and questions regarding how RID-certified individuals who have moved to NC can obtain a license if they don’t have a college degree.  Cmte will meet again today following the regular Board mtg.

Central Office Report:    
Shaun:   MCi has been working with Lic Rev Cmte as well as revising some forms. A revision of the database is in progress. At a later date, will present recommendations for revisions to the website (e.g. online payment for renewals).  412 active licensees,  39 lapsed (some moved out of state or retired),  Will report later on the current Renewal #’s and   New licensee #’s.

Connie Jo question:  On the website and on individual lic cards, a grandfather license (denoted by “G”) does not hold any meaning for people looking at the licensing status.      
 JimW: The original Board decided to designate Grandfathered licensees with a “G” instead of a Full “F”.  The term “grandfather” does not appear in the statute, but the GA will traditionally include a grandfathering clause in licensing laws.  Jim’s Suggestion: List the G licensees with the F licensees alphabetically and then put an asterisk beside the G lic and explain it.  
 Jan: We need to be fully transparent regarding the different licensees.  Purchasers can ask the individual interpreter about the meaning of the “G”.    
Ashley B: DSDHH lic directory listed by F and P and G.
Shaun:   I will find out how many Grandfather lic we have had and how many we have now.
Ashley M:   You currently have 416 active licensees with 72 G lic.
Val:  1 person on the website is shown as licensed, but they really do not have a valid license.
Shaun:  We can add a link on the website where someone can check on a licensee’s status and that info will be drawn from directly from MCi’s server.  This information can then be printed on NCITLB letterhead.
Jim: the Board had decided to not print the licensee’s number with their names on the website in order to avoid potential fraudulent activity
Jan:  Can the database collect information related to age?
Shaun: Would have to collected manually.
Keith:  Can find out how many CPCC graduates have obtained licenses?
Shaun: Can be collected manually.  Send me a list of names.
Robert:  Good to have info on Univ students

Chair Report:  none

Educational Ad Hoc Cmte: 
Jan Withers:  Pat Hauser, Jim Sewell and Tzena Keyes were included in the data gathering portion of our cmte work.   We are looking at 90D-7(b)(full) and 90D-8(a1)(3)(prov).   If 90D-7(b) is deleted… we looked at the ramifications of removing this clause because  RID has already mandated that beginning June 30, 2012 will req a BA for a hearing person wanting to take the NIC exam (if person is Deaf, the date is June 30,2016).  RID has developed an Alternative Pathways option.
 (see hard copy hand-out for suggested revisions)
Keith:  I know a few interpreters who don’t have an AA degree and that prohibits them from getting a lic in NC.
Jan:  If a prov licensee demonstrates effort toward working for a full lic, is that considered in renewal extensions ?
Jim:   Rules allow for 3 renewals.  Can grant a 4th and 5th discretionary renewal for a life-altering event, catastrophic event, and active military service.  LRC has also allowed if there is documented evidence of working toward a full lic, then this can be a rationale for a discretionary renewal.  According to the 90D, under no circumstances will a 6th renewal be given.
Jim: What is entailed in RID Alternative Pathways option ?
Connie:  5 categories (formal educ, work experience, relevant interpreter training,  professional training, leadership in RID) and RID will give points for each category.  RID will take the total number of points and then grant/deny the person the opport to take the NAD-RID NIC test.
Jim: Alternative Pathways is different from the NC Grandfather provision.  
Jan: The reason for this discussion is because qualified/certified interpreters are moving into NC and cannot be licensed since they do not meet the NC lic law educational requirement.
Robert: What do the other 49 states do?   Do some states not require RID certification?  
Connie/Danette/Keith:   Interpreters from other states may have RID certification, but those states do not require licensure.  They move to NC and have RID certification but no degree----then can’t be licensed.

Old Business:

Board Atty Report:
Report on recommended changes with 21 NCAC 25.0209 with the RRC
In August you voted to send amendment  21 NCAC 25.0209 (e) to the RRC.   On Sept 21 I went to the Rules Commission and they had an objection.   RRC staff atty thought there was no reasonable rationale for subsection (e).  I disagreed b/c if a licensee did not pay their assessed penalty then that would be a violation of the statute and the rules. However, I had not taken that fully into account the phrase “willfully violates”.   RRC said these are persons who would be “ineligible to apply for a license”.   Addressing this RRC comment would mean a total rewriting the rule.    
Therefore, the current document before you is what I am recommending.  The underlined language will replace the struck-through language.
Subsection (a): The word “willfully” is new but the RRC noted that subpart 6 refers to “willful violations”.  Suggestion: add this term in order to get the changes approved.  Example:  an interpreter was warned that they cannot interpret in NC without a license, but they continue interpreting.  This is an example of “willful violation”.  I suggest that we also amend the rule to say “…shall be denied for two years…..” and not “….shall be denied for a period of up to two years….”
Subsection (b):   added G.S. 90D-12(1) and (2)
Subsection (c) and (d): are controlled by statutory provisions and I have added the same language in the rule to make it easier to read the rule without going back to re-read the statute.   If someone is delinquent in child support payment, a district court judge can order that the person’s 
license revoked.  When the child support is paid, the license can be reinstated.
Subsection (e): Word order has been changed, but no substantive changes.  The verbs have been changed to active instead of passive.

Jan:  I have experience in the process of rule-making.  Do we actually need this rule or can we just follow the statute ?
Jim:   Look at 90D-12.  The Board may (discretionary language)………there is a need for a rule with 90D-12(1) because you have to decide how long will the Board deny a licensee for 1 offense.
Keith: Do we need a decision by Nov 15 since that is the next meeting of the RRC?
Jim:  We need to respond to the RRC within 10 days of today’s meeting.  And, it appears that the RRC will approve these revisions based on their comments at the Sept 21 meeting.

MOTION: Keith:  I move that the Board approve Wellon’s new wording for 21 NCAC 25.0209 (see attachment) for the next RRC meeting, provided that the words “up to” be deleted from Line 7 in subsection (a).

Second:  Connie Jo Lewis
Passed: 7:7	

New Business: 
Educational Interpreting Report: Rachael Ragin
•	104 out of 115 LEA’s completed their training for 2010-11 yr.
•	250 ed interp currently employed in NC public schools.
•	EIPA used to have about a 33% pass rate; now it is closer to 80%.
•	I am proposing the EIPA standard of 3.0 score be raised to 3.5 and also require the written test for NC educ interpreters. I am really looking forward to when the score level will be raised to 3.5.  
•	Rarely see many EIPA scores below 2.7
•	A total of 536 people have taken the EIPA (371 have scored a 3.0 & 95 have a score between 3.5-3.9)
•	We test 8 people per month and almost all the slots are full through June 2012.
•	NC requires 15 hoursof training per year/ interpreter.
•	I wish that educational interpreters had a card they could carry that signifies their credentials to interpret in the educational field.
•	We are developing a spoken language facilitator position.
Keith: Can you find out how many of the NC edu interpreters are also RID-certified?   Connie Jo: Will have to plug in each name into the RID database.

MOTION:  Connie Jo Lewis moved we go into Executive Session to discuss RFP report.   1:22pm
Second: Jan Withers
Passed	

Adjourned at 1:23pm for closed executive session for RFP Update
RFP Committee includes Jane, Connie Jo, and Jan.

Call to Order after Closed Session:  1:45pm
Orientation Materials – Keith asked Board if all materials are acceptable.  All:yes.

Replacement for Public Member Update – Robert got a reappointment letter and will send a copy of this letter as well as all previous appt letters to Jim Wellons to review.

Liability License Insurance Report  -  tabled until next meeting

Development of By-laws - tabled until next meeting

Report from Connie Jo re: Rep Martha Alexander –no reason to contact Rep. Alexander since our last meeting

Meetings for 2012:   (at DHHS @ 9:00am - 2:00pm)
Feb 3
April 27
Aug 17
Nov 9

Adjourned:    2:15pm