Hays County Courts at Law — Administrative Order O-12-006… — TX · BenchPath

Hays County Courts at Law — Administrative Order O-12-006 Regarding Remote Proceedings, Mandatory Document Filing Requirements, and Prohibition of Unauthorized Recording (Aug. 27, 2026)

High confidence· verified September 21, 2026Remote / Zoom HearingsHays County Courts at Law Administrative Order Regarding Remote Proceedings, Mandatory Document Filing Requirements, and Prohibition of Unauthorized Recording (O-12-006; filed August 27, 2026) — TOPICs reg. doc 3104.

Summary

An administrative order of the Hays County Courts at Law governing remote and hybrid proceedings, mandatory document-filing requirements, and prohibiting the unauthorized recording of proceedings (including by third-party AI note-takers and transcription bots), superseding a prior order.

Applies to

Applies to remote and hybrid proceedings before the Hays County Courts at Law and to the recording of those proceedings. Procedural information only; not legal advice.

Requirement

O-12-006 In the County Courts at Law of Hays County, Texas ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER REGARDING REMOTE PROCEEDINGS, MANDATORY DOCUMENT FILING REQUIREMENTS, AND PROHIBITION OF UNAUTHORIZED RECORDING (Superseding Administrative Order O-12-004) The County Courts at Law of Hays County, Texas conduct remote and hybrid judicial proceedings to facilitate efficient access to justice. Therefore, it is necessary to establish and enforce procedural rules to safeguard the integrity of these judicial proceedings, ensure compliance with statutory mandates, protect confidential and sensitive information, and standardize filing procedures across all dockets. THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED THAT: This Administrative Order explicitly SUPERSEDES AND REPLACES Administrative Order O-12-004. The following rules govern all proceedings before these Courts: 1. Prohibition Against Unauthorized Recording and Broadcasting Pursuant to Section 21.001(b) of the Texas Government Code and Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 18c, a person—including any party, attorney, witness, spectator, or member of the public—shall not record, photograph, capture, stream, or broadcast any portion of any remote or hybrid proceeding by any means or on any device. This prohibition strictly applies to all digital, audio, or visual media, including but not limited to the deployment of third-party artificial intelligence (AI), note-taker computer applications, automated transcription bots, screen-capture software, or external recording devices. Only the official court reporter or official court recorder is authorized to create a record of these proceedings. 2. Penalty for Violation A person's use of a recording device, AI bot, or automated system in violation of this Order shall result in the Court's immediate termination of that person's remote access to the proceeding and may subject that person to criminal or civil contempt of court under Section 21.002(b) of the Texas Government Code. A conviction of contempt is subject to a statutorily set fine of not more than $500, confinement in the county jail for not more than six months, or both such fine and confinement, per discrete violation. 3. Mandatory Attachment to Remote Proceeding Requests A copy of this Administrative Order SHALL BE ATTACHED to every request, motion, setting request, or application for a remote hearing submitted to the Court as an explicit acknowledgement of the prohibition against unauthorized recording. 4. Mandatory Attachment to All Proposed Orders as a Single Document A copy of this Administrative Order SHALL BE ATTACHED to every proposed order submitted to the Court for consideration and signature. The proposed order and a complete copy of this Administrative Order MUST BE COMBINED AND FILED AS A SINGLE, UNIFIED DOCUMENT (with the proposed order appearing first, followed immediately by this Order). Any proposed order submitted separately or without a copy of this Administrative Order attached within the same electronic file will be rejected without consideration. THIS HAYS COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER REGARDING REMOTE PROCEEDINGS, MANDATORY DOCUMENT FILING REQUIREMENTS, AND PROHIBITION OF UNAUTHORIZED RECORDING SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY UPON ENTRY AND PUBLICATION. SIGNED AND ENTERED on this 27th day of August, 2026 [signature] Judge Elaine S. Brown Administrative Judge County Court at Law Hays County, Texas [File stamp on page 1: FILED 2026 AUG 27 PM 4:01, County Clerk, Hays County, Texas]

Source of truth

Administrative Order Regarding Remote Proceedings, Mandatory Document Filing Requirements, and Prohibition of Unauthorized Recording (Hays County Courts at Law, O-12-006), superseding and replacing Administrative Order O-12-004. The County Courts at Law conduct remote and hybrid judicial proceedings to facilitate efficient access to justice, and it is necessary to safeguard the integrity of these

Official source: TOPICs — Texas local rules registry (topics.txcourts.gov)
Source health: Healthy · checked October 24, 2026
Effective date: August 27, 2026
Last verified: September 21, 2026benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p3-2026-09-21

Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-06 from the TOPICs custody scan (image-only PDF read through the vision lane). Current edition; supersedes O-12-004 (doc 3065, recorded). Bound to Hays County. RECOMPOSED 2026-09-21 (corpus-0920 P3): the full verbatim text of Administrative Order O-12-006 (signed and entered Aug. 27, 2026 by Judge Elaine S. Brown, Administrative Judge; supersedes O-12-004) replaces the earlier 1,741-character abstract. Composed by eye from the rendered pages of the registered file (TOPICs 3104, sha256 46ee4877...). The same order was registered a second time as TOPICs 3130 (receipted as a content twin; not published twice). [benchpath-tx-corpus0920-p3-2026-09-21]