Remote court reporting.

Existing law authorizes a superior court to appoint official court reporters and specifies the fees for court reporting services. This bill would prohibit courts from using remote court reporting, as defined, to produce the record of any court proceedings and from expending any funds to purchase equipment or software to facilitate the use of remote court reporting. Notwithstanding these prohibitions, the bill would authorize, until January 1, 2022, the Santa Clara Superior Court to conduct a pilot project to study the potential use of remote court reporting to make the verbatim record of certain court proceedings that include child support and misdemeanor cases. The bill would require, if the Santa Clara Superior Court elects to conduct the pilot project, the remote court reporting to be performed only by official reporters who meet specified qualifications that include having 5 years of courtroom experience. The bill would require the presiding judge of the Santa Clara Superior Court to appoint a committee to prepare a report to the Legislature on the results of the pilot project and would require the committee's report to be presented to the Legislature within 6 months of the conclusion of the pilot project. The bill would require the pilot project to terminate no later than December 31, 2020.