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1 2 Bill No. 36-0190 An act amending title 1 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 15 section 254 providing for sign language interpreters at all Government of the Virgin Islands broadcasts and official functions PRESENTED BY Daryl D. Jaschen DIRECTOR VIRGIN ISLANDS TERRITORIAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY Submitted to SENATOR AVERY L. LEWIS, CHAIRMAN Senate Committee on Government Operations, Veterans Affairs, Consumer Protection Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands December 2, 2025 2 | P a g e Good morning, Senator Avery L Lewis, Chairman, Committee on Government 3 Operations, Veterans Affairs, Consumer Protection, other committee members, 36th 4 Legislature Staff, and those in the viewing and listening audience. 5 6 I am Daryl D. Jaschen, Director of the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency 7 Management Agency (VITEMA). I am here today to provide testimony to Bill No. 8 36-0190, an act amending title 1 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 15 section 254 9 providing for sign language interpreters at all Government of the Virgin Islands 10 broadcasts and official functions, dated October 27, 2025, sponsored by Senator 11 Ray Fonseca. 12 13 VITEMA supports Bill No. 36-0190 to fund the hiring of two (2) qualified 14 American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters, one for each island district. However, 15 as part of the bill discussion, we must first define and agree on the level of 16 individual qualification. My recommendation for qualification and to be placed in 17 the position description, is defined in the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf 18 (RID), Inc. (https://rid.org) as that of an individual who holds a current National 19 Interpreter Certification (NIC). RID currently lists over 10,000 NIC certified 20 individuals in the USA. Certification is achieved after passing both a knowledge 21 examination of 150 multiple-choice questions on ethics, linguistics, and 22 interpreting protocols and a performance exam. The performance exam is a video- 23 based exam that assesses interpreting in various real-world scenarios such as 24 healthcare consultations, education lectures, or courtroom settings. Once 25 certification is achieved, holders must renew their certification every four years, 26 which includes earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs) and upholding the 27 3 | P a g e RID Code of Professional Conduct. There would be no “years of experience” 28 which permit an individual to bypass the NIC requirement. 29 30 While there are additional National Interpreter Certification Industry Groups 31 focused on Clinical Interpreter, Healthcare Interpreter, Legal Interpreter, and 32 others, an additional industry specific certification is not required for the positions 33 we are discussing. 34 35 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of interpreters and 36 translators, show, as of May 2023, an annual mean wage of $63,490 for the State 37 and Local government industry segment, excluding schools and hospitals. 38 39 For approved federal emergency declarations where Government of the Virgin 40 Islands provides American Sign Language services are utilizing with these two (2) 41 positions, and as with all other professionals such as police, fire, and emergency 42 medical services, only their overtime would be eligible for reimbursement at the 43 appropriate cost share, which is usually 75% federal and 25% territorial. I 44 recommend that these two positions be located with the external communications 45 group at the office of the Governor. Additional ASL individuals may be requested 46 to support surge operations following a disaster either through FEMA or through a 47 State-to-State EMAC request. A Territory State of Emergency, declared by the 48 Governor, authorizes an EMAC request but would be 100% cost to the Territory, 49 unless a federal disaster declaration is approved by the President of the United 50 States. 51 52 4 | P a g e When the ASL interpreters are not available, VITEMA supports a remote or 53 Virtual Sign Language Interpreter at all televised and broadcasted meetings of the 54 Government of the Virgin Islands, its departments, and instrumentalities, where 55 visual transmission is disseminated to the public. 56 For another option and with today’s technology, an audience can be provided with 57 Communications Access Real Time Translation, or CART. CART refers to the 58 real-time conversion of spoken words into text or captions. The generated text is 59 displayed on a large screen visible to everyone, on a laptop, or on a mobile device. 60 Remote CART services allow captions to be streamed to an internet browser or 61 integrated into third party platforms such as Zoom or WebEx. CART is carried out 62 by a human captioner, also known as a stenographer. CART services utilize a 63 stenograph machine, computer, and highly specialized software to provide 64 instantaneous speech-to-text translation. 65 66 Thank you for the opportunity to present testimony on Bill No. 36-0190, and again, 67 VITEMA supports this Bill. I am prepared to answer any questions any members 68 of this committee may have at this time. 69