THE ATTORSEY GESERAL 

OF ?&-ESAS 

August 7, 1987 

Honorable Dale Hanna 

Johnson County Attorney 

1st Floor, Courthouse 

Cleburne. Texas 76031 

Opinion No, JM-764 

Re: Whether the individual who 

keeps the minutes for a commissioners court is required to be 

a certified shorthand reporter 

Dear Mr. Hanna: 

You ask whether the county clerk or a duly appointed deputy 

county clerk who keeps the minutes of the proceedings of the 

commissioners court is required to be a certified official court 

reporter. 

Section 52.041 of the Government Code provides that every “court 

of record” must appoint an “official court reporter”: 

Each judge of a court of record shall appoint 

an official court reporter. An official court 

reporter is a sworn officer of the court and holds 

office at the pleasure of the court. 

Section 52.001(3) of the Government Code defines “official court 

reporter” as “the shorthand reporter appointed by a judge as the 

official court reporter.” Section 52.001(5) of the Government Code 

defines “shorthand reporting” as 

the practice of shorthand reporting for use in 

litigation in the courts of this state by making a 

verbatim record of an oral court proceeding, 

deposition, or proceeding before a grand jury, 

referee, or court commissioner "Sing written 

symbols in shorthand, machine shorthand, or oral 

stenography. 

Section 52.046 of the Government Code sets out the powers and the 

duties of an official court reporter: 

(a) On request, an official court reporter 

shall: 

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(1) attend all sessions of the court; 

(2) take full shorthand notes of oral 

testimony offered before the court, including 

objections made to the admissibility of evidence, 

court rulings end remarks on the objections, end 

exceptions to the rulings; 

(3) take full shorthand notes of closing 

arguments if requested to do so by the attorney of 

a party to the case, including objections to the 

arguments, court rulings end remarks on the 

objections, end exceptions to the rulings: 

(4) preserve the notes for future 

reference for three years from the date on which 

they were taken; and 

(5) furnish a transcript of the reported 

evidence or other proceedings, in whole or in 

part, es provided by this chapter. 

(b) An official court reporter of a district 

court may conduct the deposition of witnesses, 

receive, execute, end return commissions, end make 

a certificate of the proceedings in any county 

that is included in the judicial district of that 

court. 

(c) The supreme court may adopt rules 

consistent with the relevant statutes to provide 

for the duties and fees of official court 

reporters in all civil judicial proceedings. 

(d) A judge of a county court or county court 

at law shall appoint a certified shorthand 

reporter to report the oral testimony given in any 

contested probate matter in that judge’s court. 

A commissioners court is not a court that conducts litigation; 

rather, it is “e political body, the powers end duties of its members 

being largely legislative and ministerial.” Robinson v. Smith County, 

76 S.W. 584 (Tex. Civ. App. 1903, no writ). Nonetheless, a 

commissioners court has been said to be a “court of record.” Maples 

v. Henderson County, 259 S.W.2d 264 (Tex. Civ. App. - Dallas 1953, 

writ ref’d n.r.e.). Consequently, you are concerned that section 

52.041 of the Government Code, which requires all courts of record to 

appoint official court reporters, requires that the county clerk or 

-, 

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Honorable Dale Henna - Page 3 (JM-764) 

r 

P 

deputy county clerk that keeps the minutes for the commissioners court 

be en official court reporter. 

We think, however, that the phrase "court of record" in section 

52.041 of the Government Code must be reed in the context of the other 

statutes deeling with official court reporters. Section 52.001 

defines en official court reporter es a person who practices shorthand 

reporting for use in litigation, end the powers and duties of official 

court reporters that are set out in section 52.046 relate generally to 

litigation. Therefore, we think that the requirement that every court 

of record appoint a shorthand reporter was intended to apply to courts 

that conduct litigation. 

Furthermore, even if the phrase "court of record" as used in 

section 52.041 did encompass commissioners courts, we think that 

article 2349, V.T.C.S., rather than chapter 52 of the Government Code 

governs how and by whom the proceedings of commissioners courts are to 

be recorded. T.he commissioners court is a "court of record" because 

it is required to record its proceedings. Attorney General Opinion 

V-1038 (1950). In Attorney General Opinion O-6318 (1945) this office 

said th;?t article 2349, V.T.C.S., makes the commissioners court a 

court of record. Article 2349 provides: 

The court shell require the county clerk to 

keep suitable books in which shall be recorded the 

proceedings of each term of the court; which 

record shall be reed end signed after each term by 

the county judge, or the member presiding end 

attested by the clerk. The clerk shell also 

record all authorized proceedings of the court 

between terms; and such record shell be reed and 

signed on the first day of the term next after 

such proceedings occurred. 

See also V.T.C.S. art. 1938 (county clerk may appoint deputies who 

shell perform all acts of county clerk). Thus, the same provision 

that makes the commissioners court a court of record assigns the task 

of keeping the minutes of the commissioners court to the county clerk. 

Compare Attorney General Opinion V-1038 (1950)(indicating that minutes 

of commissioners court should contain a record of actions taken rather 

than a verbatim transcription of meeting); with Go"' t Code 

§52.001(official court reporters keep verbatim transcriptions of 

proceedings). We find no requirement that the county clerk be an 

official shorthand reporter. See generally V.T.C.S. art. 2345 end 

Gov't Code 551.402 (powers and duties of county clerk). A general law 

does not ordinarily repeal a special law on the same subject; rather, 

the special law is construed as an exception to the general law. 

Flowers v. Pecos River R. Co., 156 S.W.2d 260 (Tex. 1941). Therefore, 

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Honorable Dale Henna - Page 4 (JM-764) 

we think that article 2349, which governs how and by whom the 

proceedings of comissioners courts are to be recorded, would be read 

as an exception to the statute that sets out a general requirement 

that courts of record must appoint an official court reporter even if 

that general rule were broad enough to include commissioners courts. 

SUMMARY 

A commissioners court is not required to 

appoint en official court reporter to record its 

proceedings. 

. . 

MARY KELLER 

- Executive Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLCI 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RICK GILPIN 

Chairmen, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by Sarah Woelk 

Assistant Attorney General 

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