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The policy regarding the availability of court reporters, requests for an official court reporter in a proceeding not normally reported and the procurement of a private reporter pro tempore (18.1); court reporter transcripts - minimum transcript format standards and requests for transcripts (18.2); and electronic recordings as the official record, transcripts of electronic recordings and the official electronic recording in lieu of a transcript on appeal (18.3).
California > First Appellate District > Solano County > Superior Court of California, County of Solano
Rule 18 – Court Reporters and Electronic Recording 18.1 POLICY REGARDINGAVAILABILITY OF COURT REPORTERS A. POLICY REGARDING AVAILABILITY OF COURT REPORTERS Official court reporters are normally available in all felony and juvenile proceedings, civil commitment and contempt proceedings, LPS conservatorships and trials, habeas corpus evidentiary proceedings, grand jury proceedings when requested by the district attorney, Family Law proceedings pursuant to Family Code, §§ 3042, 3410, 7892 and 9005 and any other proceeding in which an official court reporter is mandated by law. Official court reporters are not normally available in all other civil, family and probate matters including pretrial proceedings, proceedings related to restraining orders, and court and jury trials. Official court reporters are not normally available in all Department of Child Support Services proceedings. A court reporter assigned and working in a department is considered unavailable and shall not normally be pulled for another department’s matter. Infractions, misdemeanor, small claims and limited civil proceedings will be reported electronically as authorized by statute. B. REQUESTS FOR OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER IN PROCEEDING NOT NORMALLY REPORTED A party who has received a fee waiver pursuant to California Rules of Court Rule 3.55 may request an official court reporter pursuant to California Rules of Court Rule 2.956(b)(3) at least 10 calendar days prior to the hearing date by submitting Judicial Council Form FW-020, Request for Court Reporter by Party with Fee Waiver. The Court, for good cause, may shorten or waive the 10-day requirement. The clerk will notify the party as soon as possible if no official court reporter will be available. Given the general unavailability of official court reporters, final notice of the availability of a court reporter may not be known until the day of the hearing. The form shall be filed with the court or emailed to the Court Reporter Coordinator at reporterrequest@solano.courts.ca.gov. Any request submitted to the court shall additionally be immediately served on the opposing party. Untimely requests will not be processed. Infractions, misdemeanor, small claims and limited civil proceedings will be reported electronically as authorized by statute. C. PROCUREMENT OF PRIVATE REPORTER PRO TEMPORE For matters in which the court does not normally provide an official court reporter, a party or parties may privately arrange for certified shorthand reporter services to serve as the official reporter pro tempore at the party’s own expense pursuant to Government Code, section 68086 and California Rules of Court, rule 2.956. There can only be one official record of court proceedings and only one reporter appointed by the court may report a court proceeding. (CCP, § 273; Govt. Code, §§ 66941, 70043, 70044.) When a party arranges for a reporter, the reporter must be appointed as an official reporter pro tempore before the hearing begins. Every reporter who is not otherwise on a court-approved list of reporters pro tempore shall complete and sign the Request for Appointment of Official Reporter Pro Tempore (Form 3021- CV). The party arranging for an official reporter pro tempore is responsible for paying the reporter’s fees although the parties may arrange to share the fees. If the parties are unable to agree on a reporter, the court will select the reporter to be used. A reporter appointed as a Reporter Pro Tempore shall agree to the following: (1) The reporter has a valid, current California Certified Shorthand Reporter License and is in good standing with the Court Reporters’ Board of California. (2) The reporter will provide current contact information to the court. (3) All fees for reporting services, including appearance, transcript and real-time fees, are the responsibility of the party or parties who arranged for the reporter’s services and may not be charged to the court. (4) The reporter will comply with statutes and rules applicable to official reporters pro tempore, including the duty to timely prepare transcripts, including those for appeals, in the proper form. (5) The reporter will comply with the court’s requirements regarding uploading electronic archiving of notes within 48 hours of the date of the proceedings except in extenuating circumstances as approved by the Court Reporter Coordinator. (6) The reporter will follow directions from the court and will be subject to the jurisdiction of the court to the same extent as an official reporter. (7) The reporter will be available for read back of notes taken during a jury trial within 1 hour of the court’s request. (8) If providing real-time reporting, the court reporter will furnish the necessary equipment. (Rule 18.1 amended effective July 1, 2025; adopted effective July 1, 2022.) 18.2 COURT REPORTER TRANSCRIPTS A. MINIMUM TRANSCRIPT FORMAT STANDARDS A licensed Court Reporter or Pro Tem Reporter employed by the Superior Court of California, County of Solano, shall comply with the following transcript format standards when producing a transcript from a court proceeding: (1) There shall be no fewer than 28 typed text lines per page; (2) A full line of text shall be no less than 64 characters; (3) Font shall be Courier, 12 pt; (4) Each question and answer shall begin on a separate line; (5) Text shall begin at the closest point to the left margin (left margin is defined as the first character of a line text); (6) Q and A symbols shall appear within the first 3 spaces from the left-hand margin; (7) Beginning text shall appear 2 spaces after Q and A; (8) Carry-over Q and A lines shall begin at the left-hand margin; (9) Colloquy and paragraphed material shall begin no more than 7 spaces from the left-hand margin with carry-over colloquy to the left-hand margin; (10) Speaker identification and Q shall be on the same line; and, (11) There shall be no blank lines on the first page of the appearance drop- in/beginning paragraphs. Failure to comply with the standards, as noted above, constitutes grounds for corrective action, up to and including termination and filing a report with the Court Reporters Board of California. (Subd. (a) adopted effective January 1, 2013.) B. REQUESTS FOR TRANSCRIPTS 1. Forms to be Submitted Subject to the exceptions set forth below, all court reporter transcripts shall be requested by submitting a request for transcript form designated by the court. The form is available on the court’s website or in paper form at any clerk’s office. The form is not required in the following circumstances: (a) In cases where automatic preparation of a transcript is mandated by law. (b) In civil cases where the transcript is being requested in connection with an appeal. All appellate transcript designations shall be done as directed by the applicable Judicial Council form(s) and California Rules of Court. 2. Cost of Transcripts Except as otherwise provided by law or by California Rules of Court, the party requesting a transcript is responsible for the costs associated with the preparation and printing of all transcripts requested by that party. If the proceeding has not previously been transcribed, a party’s transcript request shall automatically include preparation of one original transcript plus one copy. The original transcript shall be retained by the court. A party who believes he or she is unable to afford some or all of his or her transcription costs may contact the Court Reporters Board of California concerning his or her eligibility for assistance from the Transcript Reimbursement Fund. 3. Transcripts Requested by Non-Parties in Juvenile Matters Any non-party requesting a reporter’s transcript of a juvenile proceeding must file a Petition for Disclosure (Judicial Council form no. 570). (Subd. (b) adopted effective January 1, 2013.) (Rule 18.2 amended effective July 1, 2022; adopted as Rule 18.2effective January 1, 2013.) 18.3 ELECTRONIC RECORDINGS AND TRANSCRIPTS A. ELECTRONIC RECORDING AS THE OFFICIAL RECORD Pursuant to Government Code section 69957 or by order of the Court, court proceedings may be electronically recorded when a court reporter is not available. The electronic recording serves as the official record of the proceedings in these instances. In cases where an electronic recording serves as the official record, a party may request a copy by completing an Electronic Recording Request Form and submitting the form to the clerk’s office. Pursuant to Government Code section 70631, a fee will be charged for each shared link or CD requested. The fee for the electronic recording shall be waived for a party with an approved fee waiver on file. (Subd. (a) adopted effective July 1, 2025.) B. PREPARATION OF TRANSCRIPT OF ELECTRONIC RECORDING 1. Transcripts Generally Pursuant to California Rule of Court 2.952 and 8.835, unless otherwise ordered by the court, the cost for preparing a transcript of an electronic recording shall be borne by the requesting party. 2. TRANSCRIPTS FOR APPEALS Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the cost of preparing a transcript of an electronic recording for purposes of appeal shall be borne by the requesting party. (Subd. (b) amended effective July 1, 2026; Subd. (b) adopted effective July 1, 2025.) C. OFFICIAL ELECTRONIC RECORDING IN LIEU OF TRANSCRIPT FOR APPEALS Pursuant to California Rule of Court 8.835, unless otherwise ordered by the court, the original of an official electronic recording of the trial court proceedings, or a copy made by the court, may be transmitted to the appropriate appellate court as the record of those oral proceedings without being transcribed. Such an official electronic recording satisfies any requirement for a reporter’s transcript of these proceedings. (Subd. (c) adopted effective July 1, 2025.) (Rule 18.3 amended effective July 1, 2026; adopted effective July 1, 2025.)
Rule 18 – Court Reporters and Electronic Recording 18.1 POLICY REGARDINGAVAILABILITY OF COURT REPORTERS A. POLICY REGARDING AVAILABILITY OF COURT REPORTERS Official court reporters are normally available in all felony and juvenile proceedings, civil commitment and contempt proceedings, LPS conservatorships and trials, habeas corpus evidentiary proceedings, grand jury proceedings when requested by
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-10-09 (California T4 Solano build 2026-10-09) from BenchPath custody ca/t4/ca-solano/docs/general/complete_set_of_local_rules_july_2026.pdf (the court's rule book, “Local Court Rules”, revised July 1, 2026, as fetched 2026-10-09; 7347859 bytes, sha256 f235df4f2c4c47b9c4e290445ffa2be1b5ad4302da615570c85a49e5138357e7; 350 pages) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow) over Rules 1 to 20 (their pages between PDF pages 15 and 323), each rule composed alone from its first page to its last, in segments that start where a part's or an appendix's heading first prints: each page's running header (“Superior Court of California” and “County of Solano”, then the rule's title and the current part or appendix, kept where each first prints) and footer (the page number, the court's website address and “July 2026”) removed as chrome; lines reflowed into the rules' paragraphs; 44 whitespace-only fixes (build/book-fixes.json: thirteen breaks the reflow made before a wrapped “Rule N.N” citation rejoined, two form numbers broken after their hyphen rejoined, and twenty-nine heading, history note, paragraph, list, table row and address breaks it ran together set back; the short-line and vertical-gap audits find no joined break left); the scanned appendices (the standing orders printed in the appendices of Rules 5, 6 and 17, and the weapons order printed again after the forms index) left out and decided as documents - the strike report's 14 struck runs all lie on those scanned pages; proof 1 (whitespace-only) and proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) pass. The cover, the revision history, the table of contents, the dividers and the indexes belong to no rule.
Division XI: information forms for data processing (Rule 11.2); required action - action taken on all calendared cases and a future date always set (Rule 11.19); and pro tem judges - an attorney named as a plaintiff in a civil or small claims case may not sit as a judge pro-tem during the case or within six months following its resolution, nor one named as a defendant in two or more such cases (Rule 11.22). Rules 11.1, 11.3 to 11.5, 11.7 to 11.18, 11.20 and 11.21 are repealed, and Rule 11.6 (voluntary arbitration; see Local Rule 10.2) was repealed and renumbered.
Duval County's indigent-defense and magistration rules under the Texas Fair Defense Act (S.B. 7): who may be booked into the county jail and on what paper; arrest-case numbering; presentment to a magistrate within 48 hours (art. 15.16); the magistrate's warnings, counsel inquiry, interpreter duty, indigence determination and appointment of counsel within 24 hours of a request; the alternative appointment plan under art. 26.04(g)-(h) with annual applications, seven attorney categories (capital, first and second degree, third degree/state jail/misdemeanor, competency, appeals, post-conviction, extradition), CLE and experience standards, random rotation within each category, written acceptance within 48 hours, first contact by the end of the next working day, replacement and suspension of counsel, fee applications within five days of completing services and the compensation attachment ($500 pleas; $175/$150 hourly; $1,400 per jury-trial day; appellate caps); bail schedules by offense class with a personal bond office (fee $20 or 3%), pre-trial supervision and revocation hearings within two working days; arraignment settings and notice; repeal of conflicting rules.