Relating to fees charged by county clerks for certain property records.
Summary
SB 1547 revises the fee schedule that Texas county clerks must charge for a range of records-related services. The bill updates fees for filing personal property and real property records, certified and noncertified copies, birth and death certificates, bond approvals, marriage licenses, declarations of informal marriage, brand registrations, and oath administration. It also specifies different charges for paper copies, paper documents converted to electronic format, and electronic copies of electronic documents, including special pricing for longer documents and for real property records.
The bill also clarifies that when a county clerk provides a copy of a record in a format other than paper, including real property records, the clerk must charge fees under the applicable Public Information Act provisions in the Government Code. In effect, SB 1547 standardizes and updates county clerk fee authority for property and vital-record-related services, and it became effective immediately after passage.
Impact
SB 1547 amends Section 118.011 of the Local Government Code, changing the statutory fee amounts county clerks may collect for specified services and adding/clarifying fee treatment for electronic and nonpaper copies. It affects county clerks, record requesters, and parties filing or obtaining property, vital records, and related documents, while cross-referencing Government Code provisions governing charges for copies of records in nonpaper formats.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly noncontroversial and received unanimous or near-unanimous support in both chambers. The Senate passed it 31-0, and the House passed it 134-0 with two present not voting, suggesting general agreement that the fee schedule needed updating or clarification. The lack of committee transcript material also suggests there was little recorded opposition or debate in the available materials.
Contention
No major points of contention are evident in the available record. The only potentially sensitive issues are the specific fee amounts and the treatment of electronic versus paper copies, since those changes can affect county revenue and the cost to the public. However, the unanimous votes indicate that any concerns about fee levels, indexing charges, or electronic-copy pricing were not significant enough to generate recorded opposition.
An act to amend amend, repeal, and add Sections 6405, 22353, and 22455 of the Business and Professions Code, and to amend amend, repeal, and add Section 8213 of the Government Code, relating to local government.