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.