§ 6-705. Certified court interpreter requirements.

§ 6-705. Certified court interpreter requirements.

   A certified court interpreter must be able to interpret simultaneously and consecutively and provide sight translation from English into the language of the non-English-speaking person and from the language of that person into English. An interpreter will be eligible for certification upon establishing to the satisfaction of the AOCP that the individual has:

   (A) Reached the age of 19;

   (B) Had no past felony convictions or pending felony criminal charges. In addition, in the preceding 5 years had no misdemeanor convictions or pending charges manifesting a significant deficiency in honesty, trustworthiness, diligence, or reliability. Disposition of any felony charges less than 5 years in the past other than by acquittal or dismissal (e.g., pretrial diversion) shall be the basis for denial of certification. Disposition of misdemeanor charges manifesting a significant deficiency in honesty, trustworthiness, diligence, or reliability less than 5 years in the past other than by acquittal or dismissal (e.g., pretrial diversion) may be the basis for denial of certification;

   (C) Completed an orientation provided by the AOCP or approved by the AOCP;

   (D) Achieved a qualifying score of 80 percent or higher on a National Center for State Courts written examination administered by the AOCP or any state that is a member of the National Center for State Courts Language Access Services Section; and

   (E) Achieved a qualifying score of 70 percent or higher on each segment of the oral examination (National Center for State Courts oral certification examination) administered by the AOCP or approved by the AOCP as described in § 6-704(E). If an interpreter received a qualifying score of 70 percent on any of the three segments of a previous National Center for State Courts oral examination that was administered within the last 3 calendar years, the qualifying score shall be honored and the applicant shall not be required to repeat that segment of a current examination.

   (F) In addition, any interpreter possessing a Federal Court Interpreter certification or a Court Interpreter Certification from any state which is a member of the National Center for State Courts Language Access Services Section, formerly known as the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts, is recognized as a certified court interpreter. Any American Sign Language  interpreter possessing a Specialist Certificate Legal (SC:L) or any interpreter possessing a certification (CI/CT, NIC Master or NIC Advanced, CSC, or CDI) or possessing a provisional legal certification (CLIP) is recognized as a certified court interpreter.

   (G) To maintain certified status, court interpreters must comply with continuing education requirements as outlined in § 6-709. Failure to complete recognized continuing education shall be grounds for removal of the interpreter's name from the list of Nebraska Certified Court Interpreters.

[Originally numbered as] Rule 3(C)-(E) amended September 17, 2003. Renumbered and codified as § 6-704, effective July 18, 2008; § 6-704 renumbered to § 6-705 and amended October 21, 2009; § 6-705(G) adopted May 16, 2012, effective July 1, 2012; § 6-705(B) amended December 12, 2018; § 6-705, (A) and (C)-(F) amended April 14, 2021.