Court Access Amid the Pandemic Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6642 To authorize video teleconferencing and telephone conferencing of proceedings during the COVID–19 emergency period, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2020 Mr. QUIGLEY (for himself, Ms. NORTON, and Ms. SCHAKOWSKY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize video teleconferencing and telephone confer- encing of proceedings during the COVID–19 emergency period, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Court Access Amid 4 the Pandemic Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. CIRCUIT COURT TELECONFERENCING. 6 The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security 7 Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–136) is amended by insert- 8 ing after section 15002 the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6642.IH H6642 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6642 IH ‘‘TELECONFERENCING FOR CIRCUIT COURT PROCEEDINGS 1 ‘‘SEC. 15002A. (a) IN GENERAL.—During the period 2 in which there is in effect a declaration of a national emer- 3 gency by the President under the National Emergencies 4 Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) with respect to the Coronavi- 5 rus Disease 2019— 6 ‘‘(1) a chief judge of a circuit, or, if the chief 7 judge is unavailable, the most senior available active 8 judge of the circuit court, may authorize that cases 9 and controversies be disposed of without oral argu- 10 ment; or 11 ‘‘(2) in the event that litigants in a case or con- 12 troversy file a joint motion to proceed with oral ar- 13 gument, or a chief judge of a circuit (or, if the chief 14 judge is unavailable, the most senior available active 15 judge of the circuit court) wishes to proceed with 16 oral argument, with the consent of the litigants, the 17 chief judge of the circuit (or the most senior avail- 18 able active judge of the circuit court) shall so pro- 19 ceed and shall authorize the use of video teleconfer- 20 encing, or telephone conferencing if video teleconfer- 21 encing is not reasonably available, for such argu- 22 ment. 23 ‘‘(b) REAL-TIME STREAMING.—An oral argument 24 that is conducted by video teleconference or telephone con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6642.IH H6642 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6642 IH ference pursuant to subsection (a)(2) shall be made avail- 1 able for public transmission in real time, during such oral 2 argument, on the website of the court in which the pro- 3 ceeding occurred and shall be permanently archived on 4 such website. 5 ‘‘(c) PARTNERSHIP PERMITTED.—The chief judge of 6 a circuit may use a third-party streaming platform, linked 7 to or embedded in a court’s website, in order to comply 8 with the requirements under subsection (b).’’. 9 SEC. 3. MEDIA ACCESS FOR DISTRICT COURT PROCEED- 10 INGS. 11 Section 15002(b) of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and 12 Economic Security Act of 2020 (Public Law 116–136) is 13 amended by adding at the end the following: 14 ‘‘(8) REAL-TIME STREAMING.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Judicial Con- 16 ference of the United States shall promulgate 17 rules whereby any proceeding described in this 18 section for which video teleconferencing and 19 telephone conferencing is authorized shall— 20 ‘‘(i) be made available for public 21 transmission in real time, during the oral 22 argument, on the website of the court in 23 which the proceeding occurs; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6642.IH H6642 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6642 IH ‘‘(ii) be permanently archived on the 1 website of the court in which the pro- 2 ceeding occurred or on the website of the 3 Administrative Office of the United States 4 Courts. 5 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 6 shall not apply to any proceeding in which the 7 chief judge of a district court (or, if the chief 8 judge is unavailable, the most senior available 9 active judge of the court) specifically finds, 10 upon application of the Attorney General or the 11 designee of the Attorney General, or on motion 12 of a litigant, that the proceedings cannot be dis- 13 seminated without seriously jeopardizing public 14 health and safety.’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6642.IH H6642 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS