85R10494 SRS-F By: Capriglione H.B. No. 3785 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to associate judges and court reporters for certain family law cases and proceedings. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 201.004, Family Code, is amended by adding Subsection (e) to read as follows: (e) A resident of the county served by the associate judge may file with the State Commission on Judicial Conduct a petition for removal of the associate judge. If the commission finds the associate judge abused the judge's discretion or acted in bad faith against a party before the associate judge, the commission may terminate the employment of the associate judge for the court served by the associate judge. An associate judge's employment termination does not prevent a de novo appeal of the associate judge's ruling to any district court in the county. SECTION 2. Section 201.009, Family Code, is amended to read as follows: Sec. 201.009. COURT REPORTER; RECORD. In [(a) A court reporter may be provided during] a hearing held by an associate judge appointed under this chapter, a court reporter must be provided or the proceedings must be recorded with a good quality electronic audio recording device. [A court reporter is required to be provided when the associate judge presides over a jury trial or a contested final termination hearing. [(b) A party, the associate judge, or the referring court may provide for a reporter during the hearing, if one is not otherwise provided. [(c) Except as provided by Subsection (a), in the absence of a court reporter or on agreement of the parties, the record may be preserved by any means approved by the associate judge. [(d) The referring court or associate judge may tax the expense of preserving the record under Subsection (c) as costs. [(e) On a request for a de novo hearing, the referring court may consider testimony or other evidence in the record in addition to witnesses or other matters presented under Section 201.015.] SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.