By: Canales (Senate Sponsor - Hinojosa) H.B. No. 3361
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 25, 2019;
April 29, 2019, read first time and referred to Committee on State
Affairs; May 14, 2019, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 9, Nays 0; May 14, 2019, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to court reporter service fees in certain counties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 51.601(a-1), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), the clerk of each
court that has an official court reporter and that serves a county
with a population of 750,000 or more and located on the Texas-Mexico
border [that contains a municipality with a population of 500,000
or more] shall collect a court reporter service fee of $30 as a
court cost in each civil case filed with the clerk to maintain a
court reporter who is available for assignment in the court.
SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a case filed with the clerk of a court that has an official court
reporter on or after the effective date of this Act. A case filed
with the clerk of the court before the effective date of this Act is
governed by the law as it existed immediately before the effective
date of this Act, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
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