New Court Filing System Is Up, Months Ahead of Schedule

Statewide civil case filing enters the 21st century… eFileTexas, a uniform electronic court filing service for all civil cases in the state, is now available in each county — and nine months ahead of schedule, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan Hecht announced Wednesday.

The state’s Office of Court Administration introduced the project to say goodbye to paper back in 2012 after the Supreme Court mandated the change. The state contracted Tyler Technologies for the undertaking, which costs $18 million a year for four years, said David Slayton, executive director of the Office of Court Administration.

More than 1,500 training classes were offered across the state to get counties on the same page. Collin County District Clerk Andrea Stroh Thompson extolled the service, saying her office previously worked with 1.7 million pages of records and stored 600 boxes annually. Now, she said, with eFileTexas, her office works with a lighter five boxes of records, which it keeps for six months at a time.

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Attorney General Ken Paxton is siding with Kountze Independent School District cheerleaders who are fighting in court for their right to display religious messages at school events like football games.

The case is now with the Texas Supreme Court after an appellate court sided with the school district and dismissed the case. On Monday, Paxton filed a friend of the court brief with the court. In the filing, Paxton lays out his support for the cheerleaders’ position in the case.

“Let’s not forget that our country was founded on the very concept of religious freedom,” Paxton said in the release. “When our fundamental rights are threatened, we have an obligation to defend them — and I stand with the students and parents at Kountze High School who are committed to move forward in this important fight.”

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Houston mayoral candidate Bill King announced Thursday that 76 financial leaders in Houston have endorsed him in the race. The list includes executives from various banks, investment firms and insurance companies.

“I am honored to have this strong endorsement from the leading financial experts and executives in Houston,” said King in a statement.

“These proven professionals know that we cannot wait another six years — or even another two — to start addressing the very serious financial and budget challenges we face. With their help, I will bring our city together and get City Hall back to basics, starting with the city budget."

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Nine members have been appointed to the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association Wednesday in order to comply with a law passed by the Legislature that requires the board to include members from coastal counties, areas at least 100 miles from the coast and members who work in the insurance industry.

“This will be a very experienced and knowledgeable board working to carry out the Legislature’s directive and TWIA’s statutory role,” said Texas Commissioner of Insurance David Mattax, who appointed the members. 

The new members include Blair Crossan, Joshua Fields, Michael Gerik, R. Scott Kesner, Ronald Lawson, Georgia Neblett, Tony Schrader, Bryan Shofner and Chandra Womack.