(a) In addition to a report required by other state law or rule, the clerk of each court in this state shall prepare a report on court appointments for an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator for a case before the court in the preceding month. For a court that does not make an appointment in the preceding month, the clerk of the court must file a report indicating that no appointment was made by the court in that month. The report on court appointments must include:
(1) the name of each person appointed by the court as an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator for a case in that month;
(2) the name of the judge and the date of the order approving compensation to be paid to a person appointed as an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator for a case in that month;
(3) the number and style of each case in which a person was appointed as an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator for that month;
(4) the number of cases each person was appointed by the court to serve as an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator in that month;
(5) the total amount of compensation paid to each attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator appointed by the court in that month and the source of the compensation; and
(6) if the total amount of compensation paid to a person appointed to serve as an attorney ad litem, guardian ad litem, guardian, mediator, or competency evaluator for one appointed case in that month exceeds $1,000, any information related to the case that is available to the court on the number of hours billed to the court for the work performed by the person or the person's employees, including paralegals, and the billed expenses.
(b) Not later than the 15th day of each month, the clerk of a court shall:
(1) submit a copy of the report to the Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System; and
(2) post the report at the courthouse of the county in which the court is located and on any Internet website of the court.
(c) The Office of Court Administration of the Texas Judicial System shall prescribe the format that courts and the clerks of the courts must use to report the information required by this section and shall post the information collected under Subsection (b) on the office's Internet website.
Added by Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1199 (S.B. 1369 ), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2015.
