Will online court documents finally be available in Texas?

On October 2nd, the Texas Supreme Court issued an administrative order that will allow online access to Texas court documents. Online access to Texas state court documents has been the hope of many Texas librarians and attorneys since mandatory e-filing became a requirement in all 254 counties in 2015. However, online documents have only been available from individual court websites in the larger counties, and is far from comprehensive, necessitating court runners to obtain documents from smaller courts. In February 2017, access to court documents became available via the re:SearchTX platform, but only to judges, court clerks, and attorneys of record. Adopting recommendations by the Judicial Committee on Information Technology, the Court’s order will expand access to re:SearchTX to attorneys and registered users for a fee of $.10 per page up to $6 per document, with fees waived for attorneys working in legal aid entities. The order does not specify when re:SearchTX will be available to the public, but according to the administrative director of the Texas Office of Court Administration, should be live by the end of the year. Source: Texas Lawyer (subscription required).