§964.3. Twenty-First Judicial District; indigent transcript fund

A. The court administrator for the Twenty-First Judicial District Court shall establish an indigent transcript fund for the deposit of all monies that may be received under the provisions of this Section, relative to the payment of court reporter fees for transcripts prepared for indigents.

B. All funds received and deposited shall be used and paid out according to this Subsection, as follows:

(1) To compensate court reporters for the preparation of all transcripts arising from juvenile proceedings when the juvenile's parent or legal guardian or the adult over whom the court is exercising juvenile jurisdiction is found to be indigent in accordance with applicable provisions of the Louisiana Children's Code, including Articles 320 and 321.

(2) To compensate court reporters for the preparation of all transcripts of testimony in civil proceedings filed or ruled as pauper actions pursuant to the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure Articles 5181 et seq.

(3) If funds are available at the end of the fiscal year, the court administrator may retain up to two thousand dollars from the fund for administration costs/audits of the fund or may use any surplus to defray the costs of preparation of transcripts in criminal cases when the defendant is indigent.

(4) Court reporters shall be paid from the fund for transcription in all cases where the party is indigent or a pauper, at the rates authorized pursuant to applicable provisions of R.S. 13:961, as funds become available, all such payments to be made from the indigent transcript fund by the court administrator. Payment shall be made only after the transcript is filed with the clerk of court. Payment shall be made for the original plus one copy of any transcript prepared for purposes of appeal. Payment shall be made for the original only in all other cases, and the original shall be filed with the clerk of court.

C. In all criminal cases over which the court has original, appellate, supervisory, or concurrent jurisdiction, not to include traffic violations, there shall be taxed as costs against every defendant who is convicted after trial or after a plea of guilty or nolo contendere or who forfeits his bond the sum of two dollars, which shall be transmitted to the court administrator for further disposition in accordance with this Section.

D. In all civil cases, except actions filed in forma pauperis pursuant to the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure Articles 5181 et seq., there shall be collected an additional filing fee of fifty cents, which shall be transmitted to the court administrator for further disposition in accordance with this Section.

E. The court administrator shall cause to be conducted annually an audit of the fund and the books and accounts relating thereto in accordance with the provisions of R.S. 24:513.

Acts 2007, No. 4, §1.