Electronic Court Records Reform Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2064 To direct the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to consolidate the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 9, 2019 Mr. PORTMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To direct the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts to consolidate the Case Manage- ment/Electronic Case Files system, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electronic Court 4 Records Reform Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6 In this Act: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2064 IS (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 1 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv- 2 ices. 3 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 4 the Director of the Administrative Office of the 5 United States Courts. 6 (3) MACHINE-READABLE.—The term ‘‘machine- 7 readable’’ means a format in which information or 8 data can be easily processed by a computer without 9 human intervention while ensuring no semantic 10 meaning is lost. 11 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF THE CASE MANAGEMENT/ELEC- 12 TRONIC CASE FILES SYSTEM. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 14 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordi- 15 nation with the Administrator, shall— 16 (1) consolidate the Case Management/Elec- 17 tronic Case Files system; and 18 (2) develop 1 system for all filings with courts 19 of the United States, which shall be administered by 20 the Administrative Office of the United States 21 Courts. 22 (b) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the system 23 under subsection (a), the Director shall use modern tech- 24 nology— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2064 IS (1) to improve security, data accessibility, af- 1 fordability, and performance; and 2 (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. 3 (c) AVAILABILITY TO STATES.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State may choose to par- 5 ticipate in the system developed under this section. 6 (2) FEE.—The Director shall charge a fee to a 7 State that chooses to participate in the system devel- 8 oped under this section at a level sufficient to re- 9 cover the cost of providing the services associated 10 with the administration and maintenance of the sys- 11 tem to the State. 12 SEC. 4. PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT ELECTRONIC RECORDS 13 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. 14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordi- 16 nation with the Administrator, shall update the Public Ac- 17 cess to Court Electronic Records system, which shall be 18 subject to the following requirements: 19 (1) A document filed with a court shall be made 20 publicly accessible upon filing, except as ordered by 21 a court or by rule of the Judicial Conference of the 22 United States. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2064 IS (2) All documents on the system shall be avail- 1 able to the public and to parties before the court 2 free of charge. 3 (3) Any information that is prohibited from 4 public disclosure by law or court order shall be re- 5 dacted. 6 (4) All documents shall be text-searchable and 7 machine-readable. 8 (5) To the extent practicable, external websites 9 shall be able to link to documents on the system. 10 (6) The system shall include any available dig- 11 ital audio and visual files of court recordings. 12 (7) The system shall provide search functions 13 for public use. 14 (b) MINIMIZING THE BURDEN ON PRO SE LITI- 15 GANTS.—In developing the system to comply with the re- 16 quirements under subsection (a), the Director shall, to the 17 extent practicable, not impose a disproportionate impact 18 on pro se litigants. 19 (c) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the system 20 under subsection (a), the Director shall use modern tech- 21 nology— 22 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, af- 23 fordability, and performance; and 24 (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2064 IS (d) AUTHORITY TO EXEMPT CERTAIN DOCU- 1 MENTS.—The Director may identify categories of— 2 (1) documents that are not made publicly acces- 3 sible under subsection (a)(1); and 4 (2) court proceedings, the recordings of which 5 are not made available under subsection (a)(6). 6 (e) FILING FEES.—The Judiciary Appropriations 7 Act, 1992 (title III of Public Law 102–140; 105 Stat. 8 807) is amended by striking section 303 (28 U.S.C. 1913 9 note) and inserting the following: 10 ‘‘SEC. 303. (a)(1) To cover the costs of maintaining 11 the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system in 12 accordance with section 4 of the Electronic Court Records 13 Reform Act of 2019, the Judicial Conference— 14 ‘‘(A) shall collect an annual fee from the De- 15 partment of Justice equal to the Public Access to 16 Court Electronic Records access fees paid by the De- 17 partment of Justice in 2018, as adjusted for infla- 18 tion; and 19 ‘‘(B) may, only to the extent necessary, pre- 20 scribe reasonable filing fees, pursuant to sections 21 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, 22 United States Code, for collection by the courts 23 under those sections. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2064 IS ‘‘(2) The filing fees shall be commensurate with the 1 burden imposed on the court by the party. The filing fees 2 shall impose a lesser fee on filers who are filing on behalf 3 of individuals. Pro se litigants and litigants who certify 4 their financial hardship shall not be subject to the filing 5 fees. The Director of the Administrative Office of the 6 United States Courts, under the direction of the Judicial 7 Conference of the United States, shall prescribe a schedule 8 of reasonable filing fees to cover the costs described in 9 this subsection that the Director shall maintain and make 10 available to the public. 11 ‘‘(b) The Judicial Conference and the Director shall 12 transmit each schedule of fees prescribed under subsection 13 (a) to Congress at least 30 days before the schedule be- 14 comes effective. All fees collected under subsection (a) 15 shall be deposited as offsetting collections to the Judiciary 16 Information Technology Fund pursuant to section 17 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United States Code, to reimburse 18 expenses incurred in providing services in accordance with 19 section 4 of the Electronic Court Records Reform Act of 20 2019.’’. 21 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 22 or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed 23 to— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 2064 IS (1) affect the filing fees or other filing proce- 1 dures for prisoners; or 2 (2) abrogate, limit, or modify the requirements 3 described in section 1915 of title 28, United States 4 Code. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:28 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2064.IS S2064 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS