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Amended General Order #GO26-027 (effective August 13, 2026, in effect until December 31, 2027): official court reporters are required in felony criminal and juvenile cases and are not normally available for trials or law and motion matters in unlimited civil cases; parties to a civil or probate matter may arrange at their own expense for a court reporter (Gov. Code, § 68086, subd. (d)(2) and Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.956(c)), complying with rule 2.956(b)(3) for trial; an indigent litigant may request an electronic record where no official reporter or pro tempore reporter is available; priority for any available official reporter goes to Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) conservatorships; and a privately retained certified shorthand reporter is designated the official court reporter for the trial, paid by the arranging party.
California > Fourth Appellate District > San Bernardino County > Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino
SUPERIOR COURT COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO 247 West Third Street, Eleventh Floor San Bernardino, California 92415 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO IN RE: COURT REPORTER AVAILABILITY POLICY FOR CIVIL AND PROBATE CASES AMENDED GENERAL ORDER #GO26-027 GENERAL ORDER OF THE PRESIDING JUDGE Official court reporters are required for reporting all proceedings in felony criminal and juvenile cases. Court reporters are not statutorily required to be provided by the courts in civil, family law, probate, misdemeanor criminal, and traffic cases. With the exception of limited civil, misdemeanor and infraction cases, Government Code section 69957 prohibits the courts from providing electronic recording in civil, family law and probate courtrooms. The Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino has been suffering from a severe lack of court reporters. Available court reporters are unable to routinely cover non-mandated case types, including civil and probate cases. Official court reporters are not normally available for reporting trials in unlimited cases. Official court reporters are also not normally available for reporting law and motion matters in unlimited jurisdiction cases, except as specifically listed on the court’s website. Consequently, parties to a civil or probate matter who want to memorialize a hearing or trial may arrange, at their own expense, for the presence of a court reporter given the likelihood under the present circumstances that the court will NOT be able to provide an official court reporter. (Gov. Code, § 68086, subd. (d)(2) and Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.956(c).) For trial, a party must comply with Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.956(b)(3). If an official reporter or official reporter pro tempore is unavailable, an indigent litigant may request an official verbatim record of proceedings be made by electronic means in unlimited civil, family law and probate courtrooms. To the extent an official court reporter is available to be assigned to a civil or probate matter, priority will be given in the following order, and the parties will be notified: a) Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Conservatorship The Court finds good cause to allow the parties and counsel in civil or probate cases desiring a court reporter’s services for which the court does not make a court reporter available to arrange for the appointment of a privately retained certified shorthand reporter, who will be designated as the Official Court Reporter for the purposes of their trial. If an arrangement for a court reporter is made under this General Order, it is the responsibility of the arranging party or parties to pay the reporter’s fees for attendance at the proceedings. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.956(c).) This order is effective August 13, 2026, and supersedes all previous general orders entitled Court Reporter Availability Policy for Civil and Probate Cases, issued by previous Presiding Judges. This order shall remain in effect until December 31, 2027. Dated this 13th day of August, 2026. Rod Cortez Presiding Judge of the Superior Court General Order: Court Reporter Availability Policy for Civil and Probate Cases [The order is signed above the printed name. The order number prints across a line break ("#GO26-" / "027"). The title "Court Reporter Availability Policy for Civil and Probate Cases" is italicized in the print. The running footer "General Order: Court Reporter Availability Policy for Civil and Probate Cases" is transcribed once; page numbers and pleading line numbers are omitted.]
SUPERIOR COURT COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO 247 West Third Street, Eleventh Floor San Bernardino, California 92415 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO IN RE: COURT REPORTER AVAILABILITY POLICY FOR CIVIL AND PROBATE CASES AMENDED GENERAL ORDER #GO26-027 GENERAL ORDER OF THE PRESIDING JUDGE Official court reporters are required for reporting all proceedings
Reviewer note: Transcribed 2026-10-07 (California T4 San Bernardino build 2026-10-07) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-san-bernardino/docs/forms-filing/courtreporteravailabilitypolicyforcivilandprobatecases.pdf (104879 bytes, sha256 326ba16fcb65779557648560309229728b3eea30f709b3add2e3d4d856fe75b6; 2 pages) - transcribed by eye from the rendered page images (200 dpi), every page read against its image; RapidOCR's reading of each page, and the file's own text layer where it has one, served only as second readers - every six-word window of the transcription was looked up in them and every miss checked on the page image, and every quotation mark, apostrophe and dash checked on a crop of the page (custody vision/check-log.md); captions set cell by cell, zip-code tables one row per line (zip codes | city), pleading continuation marks and line numbers omitted, running footers transcribed once, handwritten fills in place, with a closing bracketed note; a signature itself is not transcribed.
9 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-10.
6 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-13.