Monitoring the Session

HB 1748

bill allowing uncertified interpreters in some local courts

Died in committee

Verdict: No flags

No flagsInitial review
Rep. Drew DarbyRHouse 72

Initial review · graded Oct 20, 2026 · Headline, summary and grade are analysis of the bill text, not a finding about any person · How we grade

Caption

relating to the appointment of spoken language interpreters for certain court proceedings.

Caption from analyzed text · version I.

Summary

Justice and municipal courts in counties of 50,000 or more, any language.

The bill lets justice courts, municipal courts and municipal courts of record in counties of 50,000 or more appoint a spoken language interpreter who is not a certified or licensed court interpreter, for any language, including Spanish. Today those larger-county courts can use an unlicensed interpreter only for a language other than Spanish, and only if no licensed interpreter is available within 75 miles. On the ground, local courts that handle traffic tickets, small claims and minor cases could use unlicensed interpreters at will starting September 1, 2025, while other courts keep the old limits.

Labels

Labels: GOT HALFWAY. Passed the House on Apr 25, 2025. Died in the Senate: never got out of the State Affairs committee.

Receipt

The receipt

89R-HB1748 · 2025-01-07

SOLD BY

Rep. Drew DarbyRHouse 72

ITEM

relating to the appointment of spoken language interpreters for certain court proceedings.

WHAT IT DOES

Justice and municipal courts in counties of 50,000 or more, any language.

The bill lets justice courts, municipal courts and municipal courts of record in counties of 50,000 or more appoint a spoken language interpreter who is not a certified or licensed court interpreter, for any language, including Spanish. Today those larger-county courts can use an unlicensed interpreter only for a language other than Spanish, and only if no licensed interpreter is available within 75 miles. On the ground, local courts that handle traffic tickets, small claims and minor cases could use unlicensed interpreters at will starting September 1, 2025, while other courts keep the old limits.

CHARGES

[ ] NONE FOUND

TOTAL

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version H · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version H · April 4, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

HISTORY

  1. Filed
  2. Read first time
  3. Referred to Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
  4. Scheduled for public hearing on . . .
  5. Considered in public hearing
  6. Testimony taken/registration(s) recorded in committee
  7. Left pending in committee
  8. Considered in formal meeting
  9. Committee substitute considered in committee
  10. Reported favorably as substituted
  11. Comte report filed with Committee Coordinator
  12. Committee report distributed
  13. Committee report sent to Calendars
  14. Considered in Calendars
  15. Placed on General State Calendar
  16. Read 2nd time
  17. Passed to engrossment
  18. Record vote RV#542
  19. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
  20. Read 3rd time
  21. Passed
  22. Record vote RV#583
  23. Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal
  24. Reported engrossed
  25. Received from the House
  26. Read first time
  27. Referred to State Affairs
FILED UNDER

No verified beat found.

SIGNED FOR BY

House · 111 yea · 8 nay

Sources

House: Final passage · Apr 25, 2025. Journal. Published stock for this vote. Snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

All floor motions and other positions below.

No flags

THANK YOU FOR CHECKING THE RECEIPT

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

CAMPAIGN PAID FOR BY

Drew Darby

Donors

Texans for Truth and Liberty PAC$50KGideon Powell$30,000Dustin Burrows Campaign$28K

Not tied to this bill.

Sources

The author's campaign account only. Own money and internal transfers are separate on the member page.

Derived itemized flow · Jul 9, 2024 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Texans for Truth and Liberty PAC$50,000.00

Texans for Truth and Liberty PAC

$50,000.00

Cash
$50,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$50,000.00

Also funds 44 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jun 24, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · Jun 25, 2025 to Oct 8, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101007659, 101072052.

Gideon Powell$30,000.00
Dustin Burrows Campaign$27,600.00

Dustin Burrows Campaign

$27,600.00

Cash
$0.00
Paid by others
$27,600.00
Total
$27,600.00
polling $27,600.00

Also funds 39 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Sep 13, 2025 to Sep 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Aug 5, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101068080.

Money

Missing data does not establish zero giving. Display amounts are rounded.

×

Texans for Truth and Liberty PAC

$50,000.00

Cash
$50,000.00
Paid by others
$0.00
Total
$50,000.00

Also funds 44 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Jun 24, 2025 to Oct 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

TEC account match.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · Jun 25, 2025 to Oct 8, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101007659, 101072052.

×

Dustin Burrows Campaign

$27,600.00

Cash
$0.00
Paid by others
$27,600.00
Total
$27,600.00
polling $27,600.00

Also funds 39 other sitting lawmakers.

Derived recipient stock · Sep 13, 2025 to Sep 23, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Name match, not a verified identity: normalized filed name and state.

Team
Sources

Derived itemized flow · on Aug 5, 2026. State data as of Nov 4, 2026.

Derived itemized contributions on live regular reports and uncovered special-session dates. Internal account transfers and daily reports are excluded.

Report IDs: 101068080.

Votes2

House Apr 25, 2025

Yea
111
Nay
8
Present, not voting
1
Absent
1
Excused
29
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

House journal

Sources

Record 583

HB 1748 was passed by (Record 583): 111 Yeas, 8 Nays, 1 Present, not voting.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 111 (published)
  • Nay: 8 (published)
  • Present, not voting: 1 (published)
  • Absent: 1 (derived from named list)
  • Excused: 29 (derived from named list)

House journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

House Apr 24, 2025

Yea
137
Nay
8
Present, not voting
1
Absent
2
Excused
2
Names

Named positions matched to lawmakers. See the journal for unmatched names.

House journal

Sources

Record 542

CSHB 1748 was passed to engrossment by (Record 542): 137 Yeas, 8 Nays, 1 Present, not voting.

Published stock of positions for this vote, except where marked derived.

  • Yea: 137 (published)
  • Nay: 8 (published)
  • Present, not voting: 1 (published)
  • Absent: 2 (derived from named list)
  • Excused: 2 (derived from named list)

House journal. Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

Witnesses13
For
10
Against
3
On
0
Names

For

  • Bexar County Commissioners Court1 registration
  • City of Corpus Christi1 registration
  • City of Fort Worth1 registration
  • City of San Antonio1 registration
  • Conference of Urban Counties1 registration
  • Dallas County1 registration
  • Harris County Commissioners Court1 registration
  • JPCA1 registration
  • Texas Municipal Courts Association1 registration
  • Travis County Commissioners Court1 registration

Against

  • ACLU of Texas1 registration
  • Self; Statutory Probate Judges of Texas1 registration
  • Texas Access to Justice Commission1 registration
Sources

13 parsed registrations across the loaded witness lists.

Derived stock of witness registrations. Repeated appearances count separately. Organizations and self-representation appear as printed.

House witness list. Source snapshot 2026-10-20, Central time.

Fiscal

No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

LBB estimate · fiscal note version H · source

Sources

Fiscal note · version H · April 4, 2025

No first-year general revenue figure available here.

LBB published estimates · flow over the stated periods.

Source snapshot 2026-10-19, Central time.

How this was graded

Analysis of text version I by claude-opus-5-5, Oct 20, 2026, against the published rubric.

Sources

Texas House · Filed Jan 7, 2025

04/29/2025 S Referred to State Affairs

Texas Legislature Online · Introduced · House Committee Report · Engrossed

Data snapshot Oct 26, 2026 at 4:20 AM CDT. Grades, charges, quotes and corrections follow the published record.

House committee · Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence · Committee vote 9 aye, 1 nay, 1 absent · Out of committee

Senate committee · State Affairs · Final status: Died in committee

Companion

SB 303 by Perry (identical)

Subjects

Courts--Personnel

Text

The text as introduced · 159 words

89R770 AMF-F

By: Darby
H.B. No. 1748

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the appointment of spoken language interpreters for

certain court proceedings.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 57.002(d), Government Code, is amended

to read as follows:

(d) Subject to Subsection (e), in a county with a population

of 50,000 or more, a court may appoint a spoken language interpreter

who is not a certified or licensed court interpreter :

(1) if:

(A) [ (1) ] the language necessary in the

proceeding is a language other than Spanish; and

(B) [ (2) ] the court makes a finding that there is

no licensed court interpreter within 75 miles who can interpret in

the language that is necessary in a proceeding ; or

(2) if the court is a justice court, municipal court,

or municipal court of record .

SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.