§ 21.003.Qualifications

A credential requirement with no discretion in it.

The interpreter must hold either a current legal certificate issued by the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, or a current court interpreter certificate issued by the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters in the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services.

"Legal" and "court" are the operative words in both alternatives. A general interpreting credential is not enough. Legal interpreting is a distinct specialisation — it requires handling terms of art, register shifts between a judge and a witness, and an obligation to interpret exactly rather than to smooth or clarify.

"Current" excludes a lapsed certificate, however experienced the holder. Certification schemes require continuing education and periodic renewal, and the section takes the renewal date as the measure.

The requirement is unusually specific for a Texas statute, naming two particular certifying bodies rather than describing a standard. That gives a clear answer at the cost of ageing: the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services has since been reorganised, and its functions moved, without the section being redrafted.

The strictness matters because of what turns on it. A deaf party or witness who cannot follow proceedings is not participating in them, and an interpreter who is merely fluent may produce a record that looks complete and is not.

The parallel provision in the Spanish-language subchapter sets a markedly looser standard — well versed in and competent to speak both languages, with no certificate at all.