Harris County is poised to increase the number of publicly-funded courtroom interpreters under a $725,000 plan to expand language access in district and county civil courtrooms.
The proposed investment comes nearly three months after the Houston Landing reported the county has long provided free interpreters to people navigating criminal cases, but it does not always offer the same to those involved in civil cases.
Some legal advocates say the denial of publicly-funded interpreters in local civil courts has become so routine they rarely bother to submit requests.
Now, county court administrators are asking to increase the number of contract interpreters from nine to 47, according to Harris County Local Administrative Judge Latosha Lewis Payne, who presides over the 55th state district court.
The bulk of the funding, $475,000, is being proposed for the Office of Court Management, which helps oversee operations at the county courts of law and the justice courts. The remaining $250,000 would go to state district courts, which oversee felony, divorce and other civil matters that involve more than $200 in damages.