BILL ANALYSIS


                                                        H.B. 1966
                                              By: Moffat (Sibley)
                                                    Jurisprudence
                                                          5-17-95
                              Senate Committee Report (Unamended)
BACKGROUND

Municipal courts experience recordkeeping problems such as a large
volume of paper records, limited space to store documents, an
ongoing need to account for and produce an official record, a need
for quick access and retrieval, and the need for a stable storage
medium.  Electronic technology is available that may address these
recordkeeping problems for municipal court systems in the form of
optical imaging technology.  This technology allows for storage and
retrieval of images or original legal documents by the use of
computer disk space or compact disk.  This technology can
effectively eliminate the need to retrieve the original hard copy
document in order to produce an official record.  Legal acceptance
of optical imaging technology as a storage medium has been
addressed at the federal level and other states have adopted its
use.  At the federal level, the law allows for the admission of
printouts or screen images as evidence in federal courts, and at
least 28 states have adopted the uniform rules of evidence.  These
rules state that any printout or output that is legible by sight
and can be shown to accurately reproduce the original document is
admissible as evidence.

PURPOSE

As proposed, H.B. 1966 authorizes a court seal and certain court
records to be created by an electronic means that do not permit
additions, changes, or deletions to an original document.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not grant any
additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or
agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Article 45.02, Code of Criminal Procedure, to
authorize a court seal to be created by an electronic means that
does not permit additions, changes, or deletions to an original
document created by the same type of system.  Makes a conforming
change.

SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 45, Code of Criminal Procedure, by adding
Article 45.021, as follows:

     Art. 45.021.  ELECTRONICALLY CREATED RECORDS.  (a) Authorizes
     a document that is issued by a justice or municipal court to
     be created by an electronic reproduction technique that does
     not permit changes, additions, or deletions to the originally
     created document.
     
     (b) Authorizes the court to use electronic means to produce
       a written document or record an instrument, paper, or notice
       that is permitted or required by law to be recorded or
       filed.
       
       (c) Requires the court to maintain original documents as
       provided by law.
       
       (d) Provides that a record created by electronic means is an
       original record or a certification in the original record.
       
       (e) Provides that a copy of an optical image of the original
       record printed from an optical disk system is an accurate
       copy of the original record.
SECTION 3. Amends Section 35.48, Business & Commerce Code, to
redefine "business record" and "reproduction."

SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 1995.

SECTION 5. Emergency clause.