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.