Official court reporter fee.

Existing law requires the charge of an official court reporter fee, in addition to any other fee required in civil actions or cases, for each proceeding lasting more than one hour, in an amount equal to the actual cost of providing that service per 12 day of services to the parties, on a pro rata basis, for the services of an official court reporter on the first and each succeeding judicial day those services are provided, as specified. Fees collected pursuant to this provision may be used only to pay for services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. Existing law further requires that, whenever a daily transcript is ordered in a civil case requiring the services of more than one reporter, the party requesting the transcript pay a fee equal to the per diem rate for pro tempore reporters in addition to any other required fee. This bill would additionally require an official court reporter fee to be charged for each proceeding lasting less than an hour, and would authorize the court in which an official court reporter fee was collected to retain that fee. The bill would also authorize the court collecting a per diem fee for a daily transcript to retain that fee to offset the cost of the additional court reporter. Existing law establishes filing fees in specified civil proceedings. Existing law further establishes the Trial Court Trust Fund and requires that $30 of the amount distributed to the Trial Court Trust Fund from specified filing fees be used for the services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. This bill, instead, would require that $30 of specified filing fees be retained by the court in which the fee was collected and be used to provide the services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. The bill would also require, in courts where official court reporting services in civil proceedings are not provided, that all fees to be retained pursuant to these provisions instead revert to the Trial Court Trust Fund for redistribution to trial courts providing official court reporting services in civil proceedings, as specified, and that these redistributed funds be used to provide the services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings.