Advisory board adopts 75% certification exam for process servers; rollout contingent on court approval

The Process Server Certification Advisory Board voted to adopt revisions to the Judicial Branch Certification Commission's rules that would require applicants for process server certification to pass a commission‑approved exam with a score of 75 or higher.

Staff member (S1) told the advisory board the exam "covers Texas law and procedure related to the service of process" and emphasized that the requirement "is not a grandfathered provision," meaning new applications submitted on or after the court's effective date would need the exam, while existing certificants would be required to pass at their next renewal or face suspension. The staff described a staged rollout so the system could manage test administration and renewals without overwhelming resources.

Board members asked how the test would be administered. Staff said the commission intends to use an existing university testing platform with automated monitoring and a testing administrator who reviews flagged sessions; the exam would not be live‑proctored. Staff described a randomized question bank so test takers would not all receive the same items in the same order.

Counsel (Mister Gibson) cautioned that any change to fees should be noticed on the agenda. Staff said the commission planned an administrative exam fee similar to its guardianship exam, which is charged at $100, but counsel advised that fee changes not listed on the meeting agenda be considered separately. After discussion a board member moved to adopt the certification rule changes and the board passed the motion by voice vote.

The rule change will take effect only after the commission forwards the recommendation to the court and the court sets an effective date; staff said any application or renewal submitted on or after that effective date would be subject to the exam requirement. Staff also said licensing staff will reach out to applicants if additional steps (such as taking the exam) are required during renewal processing.

Next steps: staff will prepare materials for the commission and, if the commission approves, send the recommendation to the court. The advisory board scheduled a follow‑up meeting to continue work on exam development, the sanctions matrix and fee scheduling.