§985.2. Thirty-Eighth Judicial District; indigent transcript fund

A.(1) The clerk of court for the Thirty-Eighth 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, except as provided in this Subsection.

(2) All funds received and deposited shall be used and paid out as follows:

(a) 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.

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

(c) To compensate criminal court reporters for the preparation of all transcripts for indigent defendants, including trials, motions, felony guilty pleas, hearings on writs, and all court proceedings.

(3) If funds are available at the end of the fiscal year, the clerk of court may retain up to two thousand dollars from the fund as compensation for administration of the fund.

B. Court reporters shall be paid from the fund for transcription in all cases where the party is indigent or a pauper. The court reporters shall be paid up to three dollars and fifty cents per thirty-two line page and paid twenty-five cents per page for each copy, as funds become available, all such payments to be made from the fund by the clerk of court. The amount paid for each thirty-two line page shall be determined by the judge.

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 a sum not to exceed ten dollars, which shall be transmitted to the clerk of court 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 not to exceed twenty dollars, which shall be transmitted to the clerk of court for further disposition in accordance with this Section.

E. The clerk of court 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 2012, No. 301, §1.