Sec. 1. 5 MRSA §48, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 749, §1, is amended to read:

5. Provide information. The Division of Deafness must provide information to the public, including state agencies and individuals who work with interpreters, regarding the registration licensure requirements provided under Title 32, chapter 22.

Sec. 2. 10 MRSA §8001, sub-§38, as amended by PL 1997, c. 727, Pt. C, §1 and c. 749, §2, is further amended by amending the last blocked paragraph to read:

The Office of Licensing and Registration also administers the following regulatory functions: licensure of athletic trainers; registration of massage therapists; registration licensure of interpreters for the deaf and hard-of-hearing; registration of persons pursuant to the Charitable Solicitations Act; and registration of transient sellers, including door-to-door home repair transient sellers.

Sec. 3. 32 MRSA §1521, sub-§1-A is enacted to read:

1-A.__Deaf interpreter.__"Deaf interpreter" means a person whose sense of hearing is nonfunctional for the purpose of communication, whose primary means of communication is visual or tactile and who provides intermediary interpreting.

Sec. 4. 32 MRSA §1521, sub-§2, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 749, §3, is amended to read:

2. Deaf person. "Deaf person" means a person whose sense of hearing is nonfunctional for the purpose of communication and whose primary means of communication is visual or tactile.

Sec. 5. 32 MRSA §1521, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 749, §3, is amended to read:

5. Interpreting. "Interpreting" means the process of providing accessible communication between and among persons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing and can hear, and who do not share a common means of communication. This process includes, without limitation, interpreting and transliterating and visual-gestural, auditory and tactile communication when a linguistic intermediary between a deaf or hard-of-hearing person and another person translates the spoken utterances or signs, gestures or writing of either person into a linguistic form other than that which that person uses as a primary and preferred form of