AN ACT 1-1 relating to judicial efficiency. 1-2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-3 SECTION 1. Chapter 51, Government Code, is amended by adding 1-4 Subchapter K to read as follows: 1-5 SUBCHAPTER K. TIME PAYMENT FEE 1-6 Sec. 51.921. TIME PAYMENT FEE. (a) In addition to other 1-7 fees authorized or required by law, the clerk of each district 1-8 court, statutory county court, county court at law, justice court, 1-9 and municipal court shall collect a fee of $25 from a person who: 1-10 (1) has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor; 1-11 (2) has been ordered to pay a fine, court costs, or 1-12 restitution by the court; and 1-13 (3) seeks to pay the fine, court costs, or restitution 1-14 over a period of time rather than immediately. 1-15 (b) Court fees under this section shall be collected in the 1-16 same manner as other fees, fines, or costs in the case. The 1-17 officer collecting the fees shall keep separate records of the 1-18 money collected under this section and shall deposit the money in 1-19 the county or municipal treasury, as appropriate. 1-20 (c) The custodian of the county or municipal treasury, as 1-21 appropriate, shall keep a record of the amount of money on deposit 1-22 collected under this section and shall send 50 percent of the fees 1-23 collected under this section to the comptroller at least as 2-1 frequently as monthly. The comptroller shall deposit the fees 2-2 received to the credit of the general revenue fund. 2-3 (d) The custodian of the county or municipal treasury, as 2-4 appropriate, shall deposit 10 percent of the fees collected under 2-5 this section in the general fund of the county or municipality for 2-6 the purpose of improving the efficiency of the administration of 2-7 justice in the county or municipality. The county or municipality 2-8 shall prioritize the needs of the judicial officer who collected 2-9 the fees when making expenditures under this subsection. 2-10 (e) The custodian of the county or municipal treasury, as 2-11 appropriate, shall deposit 40 percent of the fees collected under 2-12 this section in the general revenue account of the county or 2-13 municipality. 2-14 SECTION 2. Chapter 72, Government Code, is amended by adding 2-15 Subchapter D to read as follows: 2-16 SUBCHAPTER D. JUDICIAL LAW CLERK AND STAFF ATTORNEY 2-17 RECRUITMENT 2-18 Sec. 72.041. DIVERSITY. The judges of the supreme court, 2-19 court of criminal appeals, and courts of appeals shall encourage 2-20 the recruitment of judicial law clerks and staff attorneys that 2-21 reflect the gender, racial, and ethnic diversity of this state. 2-22 Sec. 72.042. DEMOGRAPHIC CENSUS. (a) The office shall 2-23 annually publish a report regarding the demographic profile of the 2-24 judicial law clerks and attorneys employed by the courts of this 2-25 state. 3-1 (b) The office may request that a court provide demographic 3-2 information to the office. 3-3 SECTION 3. Chapter 72, Government Code, is amended by adding 3-4 Subchapter E to read as follows: 3-5 SUBCHAPTER E. COURT PERFORMANCE STANDARDS 3-6 Sec. 72.081. RULES. The office shall adopt rules and forms 3-7 for administering this subchapter and for obtaining information 3-8 under this subchapter. 3-9 Sec. 72.082. PERFORMANCE REPORT. The office shall annually 3-10 collect and publish a performance report of information regarding 3-11 the efficiency of the courts of this state. 3-12 Sec. 72.083. TRIAL COURTS. The office shall report the 3-13 aggregate clearance rate of cases for the district courts. In this 3-14 section, "clearance rate" means the number of cases disposed of by 3-15 the district courts divided by the number of cases added to the 3-16 dockets of the district courts. 3-17 Sec. 72.084. COURT OF APPEALS. A court of appeals shall 3-18 annually report to the office: 3-19 (1) the number of cases filed with the court during 3-20 the reporting year; 3-21 (2) the number of cases disposed of by the court 3-22 during the reporting year; 3-23 (3) for active cases on the docket of the court on the 3-24 reporting date, the average number of days from the date of 3-25 submission of the case to the court until the reporting date; and 4-1 (4) for each case disposed of during the reporting 4-2 year by the court, the number of days from the date of submission 4-3 of the case to the court until the date of disposition of the case 4-4 by the court. 4-5 Sec. 72.085. COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS. The court of 4-6 criminal appeals shall annually report to the office: 4-7 (1) the number of cases filed with the court during 4-8 the reporting year involving: 4-9 (A) capital punishment; 4-10 (B) an application for writ of habeas corpus; or 4-11 (C) a petition for discretionary review; 4-12 (2) the number of cases disposed of by the court 4-13 during the reporting year involving: 4-14 (A) capital punishment; 4-15 (B) an application for writ of habeas corpus; or 4-16 (C) a petition for discretionary review; 4-17 (3) the average number of days from the date a case 4-18 was filed with the court until the reporting date, for each active 4-19 case on the docket of the court on the reporting date involving: 4-20 (A) capital punishment; 4-21 (B) an application for writ of habeas corpus; or 4-22 (C) a petition for discretionary review; and 4-23 (4) the average number of days from the date a case 4-24 was filed with the court until the date the case was disposed of by 4-25 the court, for each case disposed of during the reporting year by 5-1 the court involving: 5-2 (A) capital punishment; 5-3 (B) an application for writ of habeas corpus; or 5-4 (C) a petition for discretionary review. 5-5 Sec. 72.086. SUPREME COURT. (a) The supreme court shall 5-6 annually report to the office: 5-7 (1) the number of cases filed with the court during 5-8 the reporting year; 5-9 (2) the number of cases disposed of by the court 5-10 during the reporting year; 5-11 (3) for the active cases on the docket of the court on 5-12 the reporting date, the average number of days from the date a case 5-13 was filed with the court until the reporting date; and 5-14 (4) for the cases disposed of during the reporting 5-15 year by the court, the average number of days from the date a case 5-16 was filed with the court until the date of release of the court's 5-17 opinion for the case or the date the case was otherwise disposed of 5-18 by the court. 5-19 (b) For cases on the docket of the court during the 5-20 reporting year, the supreme court shall annually report to the 5-21 office: 5-22 (1) the average number of days from the date a case is 5-23 filed with the court until the date the court releases an order 5-24 announcing its decision granting, overruling, denying, or 5-25 dismissing an application, petition, or motion; 6-1 (2) the average number of days from the date of the 6-2 granting of an application, petition, or motion until the date of 6-3 oral argument of the case; 6-4 (3) the average number of days from the date of the 6-5 oral argument of the case until the date the court issues a signed 6-6 opinion and judgment for the case; and 6-7 (4) the average number of days from the date of filing 6-8 of a case with the court until the date of the release of a per 6-9 curiam opinion. 6-10 SECTION 4. Subtitle F, Title 2, Government Code, is amended 6-11 by adding Chapter 77 to read as follows: 6-12 CHAPTER 77. JUDICIAL COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 6-13 SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS 6-14 Sec. 77.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: 6-15 (1) "Committee" means the Judicial Committee on 6-16 Information Technology. 6-17 (2) "Court" means any tribunal forming a part of the 6-18 judiciary. 6-19 (3) "Internet" means the largest nonproprietary 6-20 nonprofit cooperative public computer network, popularly known as 6-21 the Internet. 6-22 (Sections 77.002-77.010 reserved for expansion 6-23 SUBCHAPTER B. ADMINISTRATIVE PROVISIONS 6-24 Sec. 77.011. JUDICIAL COMMITTEE ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. 6-25 (a) The committee operates under the direction and supervision of 7-1 the chief justice of the supreme court. 7-2 (b) The committee shall exercise the powers and perform the 7-3 duties or functions imposed on the committee by this chapter or the 7-4 supreme court. 7-5 Sec. 77.012. MEMBERS. (a) The committee is composed of 15 7-6 members appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court. 7-7 (b) The chief justice of the supreme court, in making 7-8 appointments to the committee, shall attempt to select members who 7-9 are representative of, but not limited to, appellate court judges, 7-10 appellate court clerks, district court judges, county court judges, 7-11 statutory probate judges, justices of the peace, municipal court 7-12 judges, district attorneys, court reporters, court administrators, 7-13 district or county clerks, members of the legislature, attorneys, 7-14 and the general public. The members shall be selected based on 7-15 their experience, expertise, or special interest in the use of 7-16 technology in court. A representative from the Office of Court 7-17 Administration of the Texas Judicial System shall serve as a 7-18 nonvoting member of the committee. 7-19 (c) The chief justice of the supreme court shall designate 7-20 the presiding officer of the committee. The presiding officer may 7-21 form subcommittees as needed to accomplish the business of the 7-22 committee. 7-23 (d) A person may not serve on the committee if the person is 7-24 required to register as a lobbyist under Chapter 305 because of the 7-25 person's activities for compensation on behalf of a profession 8-1 related to the business of the committee. 8-2 Sec. 77.013. COMPENSATION. A member of the committee is not 8-3 entitled to compensation but is entitled to reimbursement of travel 8-4 expenses incurred by the member while conducting the business of 8-5 the committee, as provided in the General Appropriations Act. 8-6 Sec. 77.014. STAFF. The Office of Court Administration of 8-7 the Texas Judicial System shall provide staff for the committee. 8-8 (Sections 77.015-77.030 reserved for expansion 8-9 SUBCHAPTER C. POWERS AND DUTIES; FUNDING 8-10 Sec. 77.031. GENERAL POWERS AND DUTIES. The committee 8-11 shall: 8-12 (1) develop programs to implement the recommendations 8-13 of the Information Technology Task Force of the Texas Commission on 8-14 Judicial Efficiency; 8-15 (2) develop minimum standards for voice storage and 8-16 retrieval services, including voice messaging and electronic mail 8-17 services, local area networks, Internet access, electronic data 8-18 interchange, data dictionaries, and other technological needs of 8-19 the judicial system; 8-20 (3) develop a coordinated statewide computer and 8-21 communication network that is capable of linking all courts in this 8-22 state; 8-23 (4) encourage efficiency and planning coordination by 8-24 researching the possible uses of existing computer and 8-25 communication networks developed by other state agencies; 9-1 (5) develop minimum standards for an electronically 9-2 based document system to provide for the flow of information within 9-3 the judicial system in electronic form and recommend rules relating 9-4 to the electronic filing of documents with courts; 9-5 (6) develop security guidelines for controlling access 9-6 to and protecting the integrity and confidentiality of information 9-7 available in electronic form; 9-8 (7) develop a state judicial system web page for use 9-9 on the Internet accessible to the public for a reasonable access 9-10 fee set by the supreme court after consultation with the committee; 9-11 (8) develop minimum standards for an internal computer 9-12 and communication network available only to court staff; 9-13 (9) recommend pilot programs relating to the testing 9-14 and demonstration of new technologies as applied to the judicial 9-15 system; 9-16 (10) recommend programs to provide training and 9-17 technical assistance to users of the coordinated statewide computer 9-18 and communication network; 9-19 (11) develop funding priorities regarding the various 9-20 technological needs of the judicial system; and 9-21 (12) recommend distributions to courts from the 9-22 judicial technology account in the judicial fund. 9-23 Sec. 77.032. JUDICIAL TECHNOLOGY ACCOUNT. (a) The judicial 9-24 technology account is an account in the judicial fund administered 9-25 by the committee. 10-1 (b) Money in the judicial technology account may only be 10-2 used for the support of programs that are approved by the committee 10-3 and that provide technological support for the judiciary. The 10-4 comptroller may pay money from the account only on vouchers 10-5 approved by the committee. 10-6 (c) The committee shall file a report with the Legislative 10-7 Budget Board at the end of each fiscal year showing disbursements 10-8 from the account and the purpose for each disbursement. All money 10-9 expended is subject to audit by the comptroller and the state 10-10 auditor. 10-11 (d) Money available from the judicial technology account may 10-12 be supplemented by local or federal money and private or public 10-13 grants. 10-14 SECTION 5. Section 552.272, Government Code, is amended by 10-15 adding Subsection (e) to read as follows: 10-16 (e) The provisions of this section that prohibit a 10-17 governmental entity from imposing a charge for access to 10-18 information that exists in an electronic medium do not apply to the 10-19 collection of a fee set by the supreme court after consultation 10-20 with the Judicial Committee on Information Technology as authorized 10-21 by Section 77.031 for the use of a computerized electronic judicial 10-22 information system. 10-23 SECTION 6. The importance of this legislation and the 10-24 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 10-25 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 11-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 11-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended. _______________________________ _______________________________ President of the Senate Speaker of the House I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1417 passed the Senate on April 24, 1997, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 0; and that the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 27, 1997, by a viva-voce vote. _______________________________ Secretary of the Senate I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1417 passed the House, with amendments, on May 23, 1997, by a non-record vote. _______________________________ Chief Clerk of the House Approved: _______________________________ Date _______________________________ Governor