By Hinojosa                                            H.B. No. 841
         77R3185 SGA-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to acceptance of filings of documents by facsimile
 1-3     transmission.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1. Section 51.801, Government Code, is amended to
 1-6     read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 51.801.  DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "electronic
 1-8     filing of documents" means the filing of data transmitted to a
 1-9     district or county clerk or a clerk of a court of appeals by the
1-10     communication of information, displayed originally in written form,
1-11     in the form of digital electronic signals transformed by computer
1-12     and stored on microfilm, magnetic tape, optical disks, or any other
1-13     medium. The term includes the filing of documents using facsimile
1-14     transmission.
1-15           SECTION 2. Section 51.803(b), Government Code, is amended to
1-16     read as follows:
1-17           (b)  An instrument may only be filed as provided by this
1-18     subchapter if the district, county, or court of appeals has
1-19     established a system for receiving electronically transmitted
1-20     information from an electronic copying device, and the system has
1-21     been approved by the supreme court.  The clerk for each district
1-22     court, county court, or court of appeals shall maintain a system
1-23     approved by the supreme court that allows the clerk to accept
1-24     documents received by facsimile transmission. A district or county
 2-1     clerk or clerk of a court of appeals who believes there is
 2-2     justification for use of another [an] electronic filing system in
 2-3     the clerk's office must request approval of the system from the
 2-4     supreme court.  The supreme court shall approve or disapprove the
 2-5     system and may withdraw approval any time the system does not meet
 2-6     its requirements.
 2-7           SECTION 3. Section 51.807(a), Government Code, is amended to
 2-8     read as follows:
 2-9           (a)  Each district court, county court, and court of appeals
2-10     shall [The courts of a county may] adopt local rules that govern
2-11     the transmission and receipt of documents or reports stored or
2-12     created in digital electronic or facsimile form and that provide
2-13     for recognition of those documents as the original record for file
2-14     or for evidentiary purposes.  The local rules shall direct the
2-15     clerk of the court to accept documents received by facsimile
2-16     transmission.
2-17           SECTION 4. A district court, county court, or court of
2-18     appeals that, on the effective date of this Act, does not accept
2-19     filings received by facsimile transmission of documents shall
2-20     develop the filing system and local rules required by Sections
2-21     51.803 and 51.807, Government Code, as amended by this Act, and
2-22     request supreme court approval of the system and rules as soon as
2-23     practicable, but not later than December 31, 2001.
2-24           SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-25     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-26     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
2-27     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
 3-1     Act takes effect September 1, 2001.