HB 1089 Summary

• Requires juvenile detention centers to adopt policies providing language and sign language interpretation services for youth with language barriers or who are deaf or hard of hearing, with interpreters available 24 hours a day.

• Defines qualified interpreters as those certified by the National Association of the Deaf, Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, or other recognized organizations, and requires centers to post notices advertising interpretation services in conspicuous locations.

• Mandates that centers provide interpretation services when youth speak limited or non-English languages comprising at least 5% of the facility's annual population, or when youth are deaf or hard of hearing.

• Establishes a single statewide contract for interpretation services to be selected by the Personal Service Contract Board under rules and regulations it must promulgate, with full state funding.

• Effective July 1, 2014, and adds interpretation services as a minimum standard requirement for all juvenile detention centers under Mississippi Code Section 43-21-321.