Rules 3.670 and 5.324 of the California Rules of Court are amended effective July 1, 2011, to read: Rule 3.670. Telephone appearance 1 2 (a)–(h) * * * 3 4 (

i) Private vendor; charges for service Provision of telephone appearance services 5 6 A court may provide teleconferencing for court for telephone appearances by 7 entering into a contract with a private vendor. The contract may provide that the 8 vendor may charge the party appearing by telephone a reasonable fee, specified in 9 the contract, for its services. only through one or more of the following methods: 10 11

(1) An agreement with one or more vendors under a statewide master agreement 12 or agreements. 13 14

(2) An agreement between a court and a vendor that was entered into before July 15 1, 2011, and that has not expired. If a contract is subject to cancelation by a 16 court after July 1, 2011, that court must exercise its option to cancel the 17 contract as soon after July 1, 2011 as is legally possible to do so. 18 19

(3) The direct provision by the court of telephone appearance services. If a court 20 directly provides telephone services, it must collect the telephone appearance 21 fees specified in (j), except as provided in (

k) and (l). A judge may, at his or 22 her discretion, waive telephone appearance fees for parties appearing directly 23 by telephone in that judge’s courtroom. 24 25 (Subd (

i) amended effective July 1, 2011; adopted as subd (

f) effective July 1, 1998; 26 previously amended effective January 1, 2003; previously relettered as subd (

i) effective 27 January 1, 2008.) 28 29 (

j) Telephone appearance fee amounts; time for making requests 30 31 The telephone appearance fees specified in this subdivision are the statewide, 32 uniform fees to be paid by parties to a vendor or court for providing telephone 33 appearance services. These fees supersede any fees paid by parties to vendors or 34 courts under agreements or procedures existing before July 1, 2011. Except as 35 provided under (

k) and (l), the fees to be paid to appear by telephone are as follows: 36 37

(1) The fee to appear by telephone, made by a timely request to a vendor or court 38 providing telephone appearance services, is $78 for each appearance. 39 40

(2) An additional late request fee of $30 is to be charged for an appearance by 41 telephone if the request to the vendor or the court providing telephone 42

2 appearance services is not made at least three days before the scheduled 1 appearance, except when: 2 3 (

A) There is an ex parte or other hearing or conference set on shortened 4 time for which three days’ notice would not be feasible or practical; 5 6 (

B) The court, on its own motion, sets a hearing or conference on shortened 7 time; 8 9 (

C) The matter has a tentative ruling posted within the three-day period; or 10 11 (

D) The request to appear by telephone is made by a party that received 12 notice of another party’s intent to appear and afterward decides also to 13 appear by telephone under (g)(2). The request of a party seeking to 14 appear under (g)(2) is timely if the request is made to the vendor or the 15 court providing the service by noon on the court day before the hearing 16 or conference. 17 18

(3) A fee of $5 is to be charged instead of the fees under (1) and (2) if a party 19 cancels a telephone appearance request and no telephone appearance is made. 20 A hearing or appearance that is taken off calendar or continued by the court is 21 not a cancelation under this rule. If the hearing or appearance is taken off 22 calendar by the court, there is no charge for the telephone appearance. If the 23 hearing or appearance is continued by the court, the appearance fee must be 24 refunded to the requesting party or, if the party agrees, be applied to the new 25 hearing or appearance date. 26 27 (Subd (

j) adopted effective July 1, 2011.) 28 29 (

k) Fee waivers 30 31

(1) Effect of fee waiver 32 33 A party that has received a fee waiver must not be charged the fees for 34 telephone appearances provided under (j), subject to the provisions of Code 35 of Civil Procedure

section 367.6(b). 36 37

(2) Responsibility of requesting party 38 39 To obtain telephone services without payment of a telephone appearance fee 40 from a vendor or a court that provides telephone appearance services, a party 41 must advise the vendor or the court that he or she has received a fee waiver 42

3 from the court. If a vendor requests, the party must transmit a copy of the 1 order granting the fee waiver to the vendor. 2 3

(3) Lien on judgment 4 5 If a party based on a fee waiver receives telephone appearance services under 6 this rule without payment of a fee, the vendor or court that provides the 7 telephone appearance services has a lien on any judgment, including a 8 judgment for costs, that the party may receive, in the amount of the fee that 9 the party would have paid for the telephone appearance. There is no charge 10 for filing the lien. 11 12 (Subd (

k) adopted effective July 1, 2011.) 13 14 (

l) Title IV-D proceedings 15 16

(1) Court-provided telephone appearance services 17 18 If a court provides telephone appearance services in a proceeding for child or 19 family support under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act brought by or 20 otherwise involving a local child support agency, the court must not charge a 21 fee for those services. 22 23

(2) Vendor-provided telephone appearance services 24 25 If a vendor provides for telephone appearance services in a proceeding for 26 child or family support under Title IV-D, the amount of the fee for a 27 telephone appearance under (j)(1) is $58 instead of $78. No portion of the fee 28 received by the vendor for a telephone appearance under this subdivision is to 29 be transmitted to the State Treasury under Government Code

section 72011. 30 31

(3) Responsibility of requesting party 32 33 When a party in a Title IV-D proceeding requests telephone appearance 34 services from a court or a vendor, the party requesting the services must 35 advise the court or the vendor that the requester is a party in a proceeding for 36 child or family support under Title IV-D brought by or otherwise involving a 37 local child support agency. 38 39

(4) Fee waivers applicable 40 41 The fee waiver provisions in (

k) apply to a request by a party in a Title IV-D 42 proceeding for telephone appearance services from a vendor. 43

4 (Subd (

l) adopted effective July 1, 2011.) 1 2 (j)(m) * * * 3 4 (Subd (

m) relettered effective July 1, 2011; adopted as subd (f); previously relettered as 5 subd (

c) effective January 1, 1989, and as subd (

g) effective July 1, 1998; previously 6 amended effective January 1, 2003, and January 1, 2007; previously amended and 7 relettered as subd (

j) effective January 1, 2008.) 8 9 (k)(n) * * * 10 11 (Subd (

n) relettered effective July 1, 2011; adopted as subd (

h) effective July 1, 1998; 12 previously amended effective January 1, 2003; previously relettered as subd (

k) effective 13 January 1, 2008.) 14 15 (l)(

o) Conference call provider vendor or vendors 16 17 A court, by local rule, may designate a particular the conference call provider 18 vendor or vendors that must be used for telephone appearances. 19 20 (Subd (

o) amended and relettered effective July 1, 2011; adopted as subd (

i) effective July 21 1, 1998; previously amended effective January 1, 1999, and January 1, 2003; previously 22 relettered as subd (

l) effective January 1, 2008.) 23 24 (m)(p) * * * 25 26 (Subd (

p) relettered effective July 1, 2011; adopted as subd (j); previously amended 27 effective January 1, 2003, and January 1, 2007; previously amended and relettered as 28 subd (

m) effective January 1, 2008.) 29 30 Rule 3.670 amended effective July 1, 2011; adopted as rule 298 effective March 1, 1988; 31 previously amended and renumbered effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective 32 January 1, 1989, July 1, 1998, January 1, 1999, July 1, 1999, January 1, 2001, July 1, 2002, 33 January 1, 2003, and January 1, 2008. 34 35 Advisory Committee Comment 36 37 This rule does not apply to criminal or juvenile matters, and it also does not apply to family law 38 matters, except in certain respects as provided in rule 5.324 relating to telephone appearances in 39 proceedings for child or family support under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. (See Cal. 40 Rules of Court, rule 3.670(b) [rule applies to general civil cases and unlawful detainer and 41 probate proceedings]; rule 5.324(j) [subdivisions (i)–(

p) of rule 3.670 apply to telephone 42 appearances in Title IV-D proceedings].) 43

5 1 Under subdivision (i)(3) of this rule and Government Code

section 72010(c), even for 2 proceedings in which fees are authorized, the fees may be waived by a judicial officer, in his or 3 her discretion, for parties appearing directly by telephone in that judicial officer’s courtroom. 4 5 6 Rule 5.324. Telephone appearance in Title IV-D hearings and conferences 7 8 (a)–(i) * * * 9 10 (

j) Vendors, procedure, audibility, reporting, and information 11 12 Subdivisions (

i) through (

m) of Rule 3.670(i)–(

p) applyies to telephone 13 appearances under this rule. 14 15 (Subd (

j) amended effective July 1, 2011; previously amended effective January 1, 2007, 16 and July 1, 2008.) 17 18 (k) * * * 19 20 Rule 5.324 amended effective July 1, 2011; adopted effective July 1, 2005; previously amended 21 effective January 1, 2007, January 1, 2008, and July 1, 2008. 22 23