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D I D Y O U K N O W ? Corporations VOTED to adopt this. Through ALEC, global companies

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work as “equals” in “unison” with politicians to write laws to govern your life. Big
MODEL LEGISLATION
TASKaFORCES
ALEC INITIATIVES
PUBLICATIONS
Business
has “a VOICE and
VOTE,” according
to newly exposed
documents. DO YOU?

EVENTS & MEETINGS

“ALEC”
NEWShas long been a
secretive collaboration
between
BigLegislation
Business and
Model
“conservative” politicians.
Civil Justice
Behind closed doors, they
ghostwrite
“model”
bills to
Commerce,
Insurance,
and Economic
be introduced
in state
Development
capitols
across the country.
This agenda--underwritten
Education
by global corporations-includes
majorEnvironment,
tax
Energy,
and Agriculture
loopholes
for big industries
and the super rich,
Federal Relations
proposals to offshore U.S.
jobs and
gut and
minimum
Health
Human
wage,Services
and efforts to
weaken public health,
International Relations
safety, and environmental
protections.
Public Although
Safety andmany
Elections
of these
bills have become
law, until now, their origin
Tax and Fiscal Policy
has been largely unknown.
With ALEC
EXPOSED, the
Telecommunications
Centerand
forInformation
Media and
Technology
Democracy
hopes more
Americans will study the
bills to understand
the
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depth and breadth of how
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big corporations are
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this Page
changing the
legal
rules
and undermining democracy
across the nation.

ALEC’s’Corporate Board
--in recent past or present

• AT&T Services, Inc.
• centerpoint360
• UPS
• Bayer Corporation
• GlaxoSmithKline
• Energy Future Holdings
• Johnson & Johnson
• Coca-Cola Company
• PhRMA
• Kraft Foods, Inc.
• Coca-Cola Co.
• Pfizer Inc.
• Reed Elsevier, Inc.
• DIAGEO
• Peabody Energy
• Intuit, Inc.
• Koch Industries, Inc.
• ExxonMobil
• Verizon
• Reynolds American Inc.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Salt River Project
• Altria Client Services, Inc.
• American Bail Coalition
• State Farm Insurance
For more on these corporations,
search at www.SourceWatch.org.

By the Center for
Media and Democracy
www.prwatch.org

Home

Model Legislation

Public Safety and Elections

Remote Video Court Appearances Act
Summary

Did you know the
NRA--the National
Rifle Association-was the corporate
co-chair in 2011?

The Remote Video Court Appearances Act allows the court to dispense with the personal
appearance of a defendant, except an appearance at a hearing or trial, and conduct an
electronic appearance by means of an independent audio-visual system. This bill also
allows this method to be used in parole hearings.

Model Legislation
{Title, enacting clause, etc.}
Section 1.{Title.} This act shall be known and may be cited as the Remote Video
Court Appearance Act.

Section 2.{Definitions.} The following words and phrases when used in this act
shall have the meanings given to them in this section unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise:

(A) "Independent audio-visual system" means an electronic system for the transmission
and receiving of broadcast-quality audio and visual signals, encompassing encoded
signals, frequency domain multiplexing or other suitable means to preclude the
unauthorized reception and decoding of the signals by commercially available television
receivers, channel converters, or commercially available receiving devices.
(B) "Electronic appearance" means an appearance in which various participants,
including the defendant, are not present in the court, but in which, by means of an
independent audio-visual system.
(1) all of the participants are simultaneously able to see and hear reproductions of the
voices and images of the judge, counsel, defendant, police officer, and any other
appropriate participant; and
(2) counsel is present with the defendant, or if the defendant waives the presence of
counsel on the record, the defendant and their counsel are able to see and hear each
other and engage in private conversation via a private telephone line.

Section 3. {Policy and rules.}
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in Section 4 of
this article, the court, in its discretion, may dispense with the personal appearance of
the defendant, except an appearance at a hearing or trial, and conduct an electronic
appearance in connection with a criminal action pending provided that the chief
administrator of the courts has authorized use of electronic appearance and the
defendant, after consultation with counsel, consents on the record. Such consent shall
be required at the commencement of each electronic appearance to such electronic
appearance.
(B) If, for any reason, the court determines on its own motion or on the motion of any
party that the conduct of an electronic appearance may impair the legal rights of the
defendant, it shall not permit the electronic appearance to proceed. If, for any other
articulated reason, either party requests at any time during the electronic appearance
that such appearance be terminated, the court shall grant such request and adjourn the
proceeding to a date certain. Upon the adjourned date the proceeding shall be
recommenced from the point at which the request for termination of the electronic
appearance had been granted.
(C) The electronic appearance shall be conducted in accordance with rules issued by the
chief administrator of the courts.
(D) When the defendant makes an electronic appearance, the court stenographer shall
record any statements in the same manner as if the defendant had made a personal
appearance. No electronic recording of any electronic appearance may be made, viewed
or inspected except as may be authorized by the rules issued by the chief administrator
of the courts.

Section 4. {Conditions and limitations.} Electronic appearances shall have the
following conditions and limitations:

(A) The defendant may not enter a plea of guilty to, or be sentenced upon a conviction
of, a felony.

Exposed

By the Center for
Media and Democracy
www.prwatch.org

(B) The defendant may not enter a plea of not responsible by reason of mental disease or
defect.
(C) The defendant may not be committed to the state department of mental hygiene.
(D) The defendant may not enter a plea of guilty to a misdemeanor conditioned upon a
promise of incarceration unless such incarceration will be imposed only in the event that
the defendant fails to comply with a term or condition imposed under the original
sentence.
(E) A defendant who has been convicted of a misdemeanor may not be sentenced to a
period of incarceration which exceeds the time the defendant has already served when
sentence is imposed.

Section 5. {Approval by the chief administrator of the courts.} The

appropriate administrative judge shall submit to the chief administrator of the courts a
written proposal for the use of electronic appearance in their jurisdiction. If the chief
administrator of the courts approves the proposal, installation of an independent audiovisual system may begin.

Section 6. {Parole hearings.}
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the department may install, maintain,
and operate an independent audio-visual system in each correctional institution of the
department that has committed persons eligible for parole and at the principal office of
the Prisoner Review Board for the purpose of the conduct of parole hearings by the
Prisoner Review Board by means of electronic appearance.
(B) If the person under consideration for parole is in the custody of the department, at
least three members of the Prisoner Review Board shall interview the person by means of
an independent audio-visual system.

Section 7. {Severability clause.}
Section 8. {Repealer clause.}
Section 9. {Effective date.}
ALEC's Sourcebook of American State Legislation 1995

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