By Benjamin Gibbs
On August 25, 2023, the Supreme Court of Texas issued a Rules Advisory that it had preliminarily approved a change to Rule 7 of the Rules of Judicial Administration. This rule change will affect municipal courts, if enacted in the current form. The advisory also invited public comment, and the public comment period ends February 1, 2024. The expected effective date of the rule is March 1, 2024. Once effective, the rule will require courts to adopt confidentiality policies by May 1, 2024
In its current form, the rule change creates a new Rule 7.1. The current text of Rule 7 regarding District and County courts becomes Rule 7.2.
The new Rule 7.1 would require all courts, including municipal courts, to adopt a policy governing court confidentiality. The policy would be required to conform to eight conditions defining the scope of the policy, its parameters, and the potential penalties for violation of the policy. All court staff would be required to acknowledge receipt of the policy in writing. All existing staff must receive the policy and training on it by May 1, and receive the policy at least biannually thereafter. Any new staff must receive the policy and training before beginning any substantive work for the court.
The Rules Advisory linked above includes a four-page sample policy which the Supreme Court has drafted to meet all the requirements of the Rule. Because this policy is drafted for all courts, it does not mention the municipal-court-specific confidentiality provisions contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure Articles 45.0217/45A.462, 45.0218/45A.055, and 45.313. A municipal court may choose to add language about these articles to, for example, the definition of confidential information in the court’s policy.
Although the rule has preliminary approval, courts are still invited to comment until February 1. After March 1, the Supreme Court will announce the rule in its final form on its Rules Advisory webpage.
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