(1) The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the Washington professional educator standards board shall collaborate to establish credentialing requirements for interpreters as described in this section.

(2) Prior to establishing new credentialing requirements for interpreters, the office of the superintendent of public instruction and the Washington professional educator standards board must consult with the language access advisory committee established in RCW 28A.183.070.

(3) The credentialing requirements for interpreters must take into consideration the recommendations in the 2020 and 2021 reports of the language access work group.

(4) Credentialing requirements for interpreters, which must include minimum employment requirements, may be phased in as training and testing options become available and may be tiered based on the structure and significance of the interaction between school staff and the student’s family.

(5) The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the Washington professional educator standards board must establish, and periodically update, a definition of “qualified interpreter” for purposes of this chapter and for other purposes.

(6) Once a code of professional conduct for interpreters is established, the superintendent of public instruction has the power to issue, suspend, and revoke interpreter credentials to which the code applies and to take other disciplinary actions against interpreters to which the code applies.

(7) Any activities provided by the office of the superintendent of public instruction or the professional educator standards board that are required to meet credentialing requirements, including training, testing, and applications, must be made available at no cost to people who want to be interpreters.

(8) The electronic educator certification process must be adapted to include interpreter credentials.

Findings—Intent—2022 c 107: See note following RCW 28A.183.010.