Enrolled Bill Summary

            Provisions of the Local Government Code allow a county to operate branch offices of the county clerk for the purpose of issuing marriage licenses. Previous law required that original records made at the branch office during the previous year be filed with the county clerk's office at the county seat on a regular basis.

            House Bill 1138 expands the services that can be offered in a branch office to include any business as determined by the county clerk, and requires that instruments or documents filed in a branch office be recorded by electronic means and made available without delay to the public in the county clerk's office at the county seat. The act requires all original records made at the branch office to be filed at the county seat no later than the start of the next business day.