By: Cortez (Senate Sponsor - Menéndez) H.B. No. 1685
(In the Senate - Received from the House April 26, 2021;
May 10, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on
Jurisprudence; May 21, 2021, reported favorably by the following
vote: Yeas 5, Nays 0; May 21, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the use of an electronic recording device to report
proceedings before a municipal court of record for the City of San
Antonio.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 30.00226, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) Instead of using a court reporter to preserve a record
in a case, the governing body may authorize the use of a good
quality electronic recording device to report court proceedings. If
the governing body authorizes an electronic recording, the court
reporter is not required to be present to certify the reporter's
record. The recording shall be kept for the 20-day period beginning
the day after the last day of the court proceeding, trial, or denial
of motion for new trial, whichever occurs last. If a case is
appealed, the proceedings shall be transcribed from the recording
by an official court reporter.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
* * * * *