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.