HBA-DMD H.B. 918 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 918
By: Reyna, Arthur
Judicial Affairs
3/4/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

In certain legal matters, a party may be required to present an original
judgment order or decree to a judge as part of the procedure necessary to
prove the party's case.  However, in some older cases the court clerk has
placed the file on microfilm and has destroyed the original documents,
leaving no hard copy to present to the judge.  In these cases a county or
district clerk is not specifically prohibited from assessing a fee to a
person who seeks a paper copy of a record or document that is on microfilm.
H.B. 918 prohibits a county or district clerk from assessing a fee for
providing a person with a paper copy of a court record or document in an
action or proceeding, if the original record or document no longer exists. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Section 118.066, Local Government Code, to prohibit a
county clerk from charging a person a fee for a paper copy of a court
record or document filed with a court in connection with an action or
proceeding if the original court record or document is no longer available
in paper form.  Creates Subsection (a) from existing text and Subsection
(b) from new text. 

SECTION 2.  Amends Subchapter D, Chapter 51, Government Code, by adding
Section 51.3195, as follows: 

Sec. 51.3195.  PROHIBITED FEES.  Prohibits a district clerk from charging a
person a fee for a paper copy of a court record or of a document filed with
a court in connection with an action or proceeding if the original court
record or document is no longer available in paper form. 

SECTION 3.Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 4.Emergency clause.