BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 1230
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Justice of the peace courts have criminal jurisdiction in traffic and other misdemeanor cases where the punishment only consists of a fine, and civil jurisdiction where the claim for monetary damages or the amount in dispute is not more than $5,000. In these courts, the volume of cases is typically high, more than 600,000 per year in some cases. Due to the demographics of the jurisdiction of many of these courts, court interpreters are often overloaded with defendants speaking another language, particularly Spanish. Clerks of justice of the peace courts rarely need to possess the skills to interpret highly technical legal language for non-English speaking defendants.
As proposed, S.B. 1230 requires the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation to adopt rules to establish a classification system for licensed court interpreters who are qualified to interpret in certain categories of courts.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
Rulemaking authority is expressly granted to the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation in SECTION 1 (Section 57.043, Government Code) of this bill.
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Section 57.043, Government Code, by amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1), as follows:
(b) Makes a conforming change.
(b-1) Requires the Texas Commission of Licensing and Regulation, by rule, to adopt the form of the license to be issued under this section. Requires a license to include a designation of the category of trial courts in which the license holder is licensed to interpret. Requires that the designation be for the category of justice and municipal courts, or for the category of county courts, statutory county courts, statutory probate courts, and district courts.
SECTION 2. Makes application of this Act prospective.
SECTION 3. Effective date: September 1, 2007.