In Re VanDeWater

Must a court reporter prepare and file a free reporter’s record if the trial court does not find that an indigent’s appeal is frivolous under section 13.003 within the time prescribed by Rule 20.1(i), Tex.R.App.P., for ruling on a contest to an affidavit of indigence? The majority holds it must. But importing the Rule 20.1 contest deadline into section 13.003 is not mandated by the text of section 13.003 or its underlying legislative history; it is not required by Rule 20.1(i) or its underlying legislative history; and it has not been adopted in any published opinion. There simply is no…