The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter,
have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise.
(1) Active Duty--Current full-time military service
in the armed forces of the United States or active duty military service
as a member of the Texas military forces, as defined by §437.001,
Government Code, or similar military service of another state.
(2) Armed Forces of the United States--The Army, Navy,
Air Force, Coast Guard, or Marine Corps of the United States or a
reserve unit of one of those branches of the armed forces.
(3) BEI Board--The seven-person advisory board appointed
by the executive commissioner of HHSC, or his or her designee, to
assist in administering the BEI.
(4) Certificates issued:
(A) Basic certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test of English proficiency and
a skills evaluation ensuring a minimum competency standard to interpret
in routine educational and social service settings.
(B) Advanced certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test of English proficiency and
a skills evaluation ensuring a minimum competency standard to interpret
in a variety of complex settings, such as routine medical, social
service, K-12 and higher education, routine mental health, and routine
quasi-legal.
(C) Master certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test of English proficiency and
a skills evaluation ensuring a minimum competency standard to interpret
in a variety of highly complex settings, such as medical, mental health,
quasi-legal, and educational settings.
(D) Court certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a skills evaluation certifying that the
person is qualified to interpret all proceedings of Texas courts,
including county, municipal, and justice courts.
(E) Intermediary--Level III certificate--A certificate
issued by DARS to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing who has
passed a skills evaluation certifying that the person possesses the
ability to interpret for a wide range of communication styles, which
may include but, not limited to non-standard signs/gestures, limited
communication skills, characteristics of Deaf Culture that may not
be familiar to hearing interpreters, deaf-blind, minimal language
skills, and indigenous communication.
(F) Intermediary--Level V certificate--A certificate
issued by DARS to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing who has
passed a skills evaluation certifying that the person possesses the
ability to interpret in a variety of settings and situations requiring
extensive knowledge and training in specialized fields including,
but not limited to mental health/psychiatric, medical/surgical, court/legal
and matters involving juveniles, demonstrates near flawless skills
in interpreting for a wide range of communication styles, which can
include-but not limited to non-standard signs/gestures, limited communication
skills, characteristics of Deaf Culture that may not be familiar to
hearing interpreters, deaf-blind, minimal language skills, and indigenous
communication.
(G) Oral Certificate: Basic (OC:B) certificate--A certificate
issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills evaluation in spoken-to-visible
and visible-to-spoken communication, certifying that the person has
basic proficiency in oral transliteration and speechreading.
(H) Oral Certificate: Comprehensive (OC:C) certificate--A
certificate issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills evaluation
in spoken-to-visible and visible-to-spoken communication, certifying
that the person has advanced proficiency in oral transliteration
and speechreading.
(I) Oral Certificate: Visible (OC:V) certificate--A
certificate issued by DARS to a person who is deaf or hard of hearing
and who has passed a skills evaluation in visible-to-spoken communication,
certifying that the person has advanced proficiency in oral transliteration
and speechreading.
(J) Trilingual Advanced certificate--A certificate
issued by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of Spanish
proficiency and a skills evaluation certifying that the person has
the ability to meaningfully and accurately understand, produce, and
transform ASL to and from English and Spanish in a culturally appropriate
manner, in more complex situations for routine educational and social
service settings, such as K-12 educational and administrative interactions.
(K) Trilingual Master certificate--A certificate issued
by DARS to a person who has passed a written test of Spanish proficiency
and a skills evaluation certifying that the person has the ability
to meaningfully and accurately understand, produce, and transform
ASL to and from English and Spanish in a culturally appropriate manner,
in the most complex situations including complex medical, complex
mental health, quasi-legal, and educational settings.
(L) Morphemic Sign System (MSS) certificate--A certificate
issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills evaluation certifying
that the person can convey a message from verbal English into morphemic
signs for English and from morphemic signs for English into verbal
English.
(M) Multiple-certificate holder--A BEI certificate
holder who possesses or who is awarded more than one BEI certificate.
(N) Signing Exact English (SEE) certificate--A certificate
issued by DARS to a person who has passed a skills evaluation certifying
that the person can convey a message from verbal English into Signed
Exact English and from Signed Exact English into verbal English.
(O) Level I certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test to assess understanding
of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the person
can convey some daily interpreting situations where expressive skills
are usually stronger than receptive skills and sign vocabulary is
limited.
(P) Level II certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test to assess understanding
of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the person
can convey some routine interpreting situations where the person exhibits
good transliterating or interpreting skills, but not both.
(Q) Level III certificate--A certificate issued by
DARS to a person who has passed a written test to assess understanding
of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the person
can convey most routine interpreting situations where the person exhibits
good expressive and receptive interpreting skills, displays a clear
distinction between interpreting and transliterating and possess a
sign vocabulary.
(R) Level IV certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test to assess understanding
of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the person
exhibits strong expressive and receptive interpreting skills in settings
such as medical, legal and psychiatric, demonstrates excellent use
of ASL grammar and ASL features, transliterating skills are strong
and processing is often at the textual level.
(S) Level V certificate--A certificate issued by DARS
to a person who has passed a written test to assess understanding
of Code of Ethics and a skills evaluation certifying that the person
exhibits very strong expressive and receptive interpreting skills
in setting such as medical, legal and psychiatric, possess an extensive
vocabulary, demonstrates sophisticated use of ASL grammar as well
as ASL features and transliterates conceptually accurate with appropriate
mouthing.
(5) Court proceeding--A proceeding that is under the
jurisdiction of Texas courts for civil cases and criminal actions,
including arraignments, hearings, examining trials, trials, depositions,
mediations, court-ordered arbitrations, or other forms of alternative
dispute resolution.
(6) Military service member--A person who is on active
duty.
(7) Military spouse--A person who is married to a
military service member.
(8) Military veteran--A person who served on active
duty and who was discharged or released from active duty.
(9) Trilingual interpreter services--Interpreting services
provided by an otherwise qualified interpreter who is proficient in
Spanish in addition to English and sign.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §360.205 adopted to be effective April 24, 2013, 38 TexReg 2513; amended to be effective May 1, 2014, 39 TexReg 3452; amended to be effective September 15, 2014, 39 TexReg 7342; amended to be effective April 6, 2016, 41 TexReg 2503; transferred effective March 1, 2021, as published in the Texas Register February 5, 2021, 46 TexReg 946 |
