Court reporters.

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, a fee equal to the actual cost of providing that service is required to be charged per 12 day of services to the parties, on a pro rata basis. For each proceeding lasting less than one hour, a fee of $30 is required to be charged for the reasonable cost of the services of an official court reporter. Fees collected pursuant to this provision may be used only to pay for services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. This bill would require, for each proceeding anticipated to last one hour or less, the $30 fee to be charged to the party, or parties if filing jointly, that filed the paper that resulted in the proceeding being scheduled. The bill would require, if no fee is charged, and a party subsequently requests a court reporter, that the requesting party be charged a fee if a court reporter is to be provided by the court. The bill would require the fee to be charged once per case for all proceedings conducted within the same hour if the total time taken by those proceedings is one hour or less. The bill would provide for the deposit of the fee collected into the Trial Court Trust Fund and would provide for the distribution of the fee back to the court from which the fee was collected, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would waive the fee for a person who has been granted a fee waiver.