Rule 7.1. All Courts.
(a) Court Confidentiality Policy Required. A court, including an appellate, district, statutory county, business, statutory probate, constitutional county, justice, and municipal court, must adopt a policy governing court confidentiality.
(b) Policy Contents. The policy must:
(1) define who the policy applies to;
(2) define confidential information;
(3) impose a duty of confidentiality on all court staff that continues after employment at the court ends;
(4) address when, if ever, the disclosure of confidential information is authorized;
(5) provide the language of relevant laws, including section 21.013 of the Texas Government Code and section 39.06 of the Texas Penal Code;
(6) address negligent or accidental disclosure of confidential information;
(7) warn of potential penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of confidential information, including:
(A) referral to relevant law enforcement agencies for investigation and prosecution;
(B) termination of employment;
(C) for attorneys, referral to the State Bar of Texas for discipline;
(D) for law students, referral to the Texas Board of Law Examiners for consideration in determining eligibility to practice law in Texas; and
(8) require all court staff to acknowledge receipt of the policy in writing.
(c) Distribution and Training Required. The court must:
(1) for all new court staff members, provide the policy and train on it before the new staff member begins any substantive work for the court;
(2) provide the policy to all existing court staff at least biannually.
Rule 7.2. District, Statutory County, and Business Courts.
A district, statutory county, or business court judge must:
(a) diligently discharge the administrative responsibilities of the office;
(b) rule on a case within three months after the case is taken under advisement;
(c) if an election contest or a suit for the removal of a local official is filed in the judge’s court, request the presiding judge to assign another judge who is not a resident of the county to dispose of the suit;
(d) on motion by either party in a disciplinary action against an attorney, request the presiding judge to assign another judge who is not a resident of the administrative region where the action is pending to dispose of the case;
(e) request the presiding judge to assign another judge of the administrative region to hear a motion relating to the recusal or disqualification of the judge from a case pending in his court; and
(f) to the extent consistent with due process, consider using methods to expedite the disposition of cases on the docket of the court, including:
(1) adherence to firm trial dates with strict continuance policies;
(2) the use of teleconferencing, videoconferencing, or other available means in lieu of personal appearance for motion hearings, pretrial conferences, scheduling, and other appropriate court proceedings;
(3) pretrial conferences to encourage settlements and to narrow trial issues;
(4) taxation of costs and imposition of other sanctions authorized by the Rules of Civil Procedure against attorneys or parties filing frivolous motions or pleadings or abusing discovery procedures; and
(5) local rules, consistently applied, to regulate docketing procedures and timely pleadings, discovery, and motions.