Courts Justice
California bill would keep remote court reporters in 13 counties through 2028
AB 2783 extends the pilot but keeps it limited to certain proceedings in superior courts, with trials, preliminary hearings and death penalty cases still excluded.
California would keep a limited remote court reporting pilot running in 13 counties through July 1, 2028. The bill also says proceedings must stop if technology problems threaten the verbatim record.
- Keeps remote court reporting in 13 California counties
- Pilot ends no later than July 1, 2028
- Trials, preliminary hearings and death penalty cases stay excluded
- Courts must pause if the record is at risk
- Reporters are protected if they flag technology problems
California lawmakers would keep a limited remote court reporting pilot alive through 2028, preserving a test of whether a reporter working remotely can still protect the official courtroom record. AB 2783 says the projects must end no later than July 1, 2028, and the provisions would repeal on January 1, 2029.
That matters because court reporting is not a back-office detail. The transcript can shape appeals, rights and public confidence in what happened in court.
Where the pilot can still run
The experiment would stay confined to superior courts in 13 counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, Mendocino, Monterey, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Tulare and Ventura. It is a narrow lane, not a statewide change.
Remote court reporting could be used only for specified proceedings. The bill keeps it out of preliminary hearings, trials and death penalty cases, which are the kinds of matters where the accuracy of the record can carry the highest stakes.
A hard stop if the record falters
The central safeguard is simple. If technology or audibility problems prevent an accurate verbatim record, the court must suspend the proceeding until the issue is fixed. The point is to stop the pilot from compromising the very thing it is supposed to protect.
The bill also says a reporter who alerts the judicial officer to those problems cannot be retaliated against. That gives the person responsible for the transcript a way to speak up when the remote setup starts getting in the way of the record.
Available vote records show the bill advanced without recorded no votes.