Two attorney organizations have registered opposition to the bill (discussed here) that would, over a less than three-year period, increase by 30 percent or more the cost of reporter’s transcripts for appeals.
The Committee on Appellate Courts of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association submitted a memo to the bill’s author stating its concerns that a transcript fee increase could adversely affect “low income litigants and their ability to have access to justice on appeal.”
A later letter by the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers endorsed the CLA memo. [Disclosure: I am a member of the Academy and of its Rules and Legislation Committee, which drafted the letter.] Additionally, the Academy called for the transcript cost — which is assessed at a set price per 100 words — to be calculated according to an accurate computer word count instead of the applicable statute‘s current method of allowing use of an “estimate or assumption as to the number of words or folios on a typical transcript page.” The Academy also recommended permitting electronic recording of court proceedings as an alternative to court reporter notes.
The bill — AB 1385 — passed the Assembly and was scheduled for a hearing this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee. After the CLA memo, the hearing was canceled at the author’s request.
