SUBCHAPTER B. COURT RECORDS

Text of article effective on January 01, 2025

Art. 45A.051. ELECTRONIC RECORDS. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a document issued or maintained by a justice or municipal court or a notice or a citation issued by a law enforcement officer may be created by electronic means, including:

(1) optical imaging;

(2) optical disk;

(3) digital imaging; or

(4) another electronic reproduction technique that does not permit changes, additions, or deletions to the originally created document.

(b) A justice or municipal court may use electronic means to:

(1) produce a document required by law to be written;

(2) record an instrument, paper, or notice that is permitted or required by law to be recorded or filed; or

(3) maintain a docket.

(c) Information in a docket may be processed and stored using electronic data processing equipment, at the discretion of the justice or judge.

(d) A justice or municipal court shall maintain original documents as provided by law.

(e) An electronically recorded judgment has the same force and effect as a written signed judgment.

(f) A record created by electronic means is an original record or a certification of the original record.

(g) A printed copy of an optical image of the original record printed from an optical disk system is an accurate copy of the original record.

(h) A statutory requirement that a document contain the signature of any person, including a judge, clerk of the court, or defendant, is satisfied if the document contains that signature as captured on an electronic device.

Added by Acts 2023, 88th Leg., R.S., Ch. 765 (H.B. 4504), Sec. 1.001, eff. January 1, 2025.