‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’ WASHINGTON CO. COMMISSIONERS TAKE STAND AGAINST MANDATE
The Washington County Commissioners passed a resolution today (Tuesday) expressing their opposition to an e-filing mandate passed down by the state.
The resolution, which declared “enough is enough”, is in response to the Texas Office of Court Administration’s (OCA’s) creation of Re:SearchTx, which is a web portal that will eventually allow public access to a database of criminal cases from every county in Texas.
The commissioners say that in addition to being another unfunded state mandate, the e-filing system allows the state to assume the county’s duties with no legislative action or statue authorizing it. According to Washington County Judge John Brieden, the Texas Constitution dictates that the county clerk is charged with maintaining the records which, given the mandate, would now end up in the state-controlled portal.
Texas counties were originally told the sole purpose for the e-filing transition was to ease the burden for attorneys, who would no longer have to visit clerk’s offices to file case-related documents. When the implementation began, clerks, attorneys, and judges were assured that documents would only be on the state server for 30 days.
However in June 2016, the Court of Criminal Appeals chose to expand the scope of the e-filing initiative by mandating e-filing in criminal matters. It was then announced that the portal would act as a repository for all the criminal file information, which would be available to the public in 2017 for a subscription charge.
Washington County Clerk Beth Rothermel says certain sensitive information could be added to the repository:
In addition to the issue of privacy, District Clerk Tammy Brauner, says money that once went to the county will now go to the state:
The commissioners say they hope that state lawmakers will take notice of their opposition and help represent the interest of smaller counties during the upcoming legislative session.
In other business, the commissioners granted the authorization to pay bills necessary to close the 2016 fiscal year and heard monthly reports from the county’s entities. The court also received a Certification of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the fifth year in a row.