Open Courts Act of 2020

IIB 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8235 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 9, 2020 Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary AN ACT To provide for the modernization of electronic case management systems, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 HR 8235 RFS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open Courts Act of 2 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS 4 SYSTEMS. 5 (a) CONSOLIDATION.—Not later than the date speci- 6 fied in subsection (e), as modified by any adjustments cer- 7 tified pursuant to section 6(b), the Director of the Admin- 8 istrative Office of the United States Courts, in coordina- 9 tion with the Administrator of General Services, shall de- 10 velop, deliver, and sustain, consistent with the require- 11 ments of this section and section 3, one system for all pub- 12 lic court records. 13 (b) REQUIREMENTS OF SYSTEM.—The system de- 14 scribed in subsection (a) shall comply with the following 15 requirements: 16 (1) The system shall provide search functions, 17 developed in coordination with the Administrator of 18 General Services, for use by the public and by par- 19 ties before the court. 20 (2) The system shall make public court records 21 automatically accessible to the public upon receipt of 22 such records. 23 (3) Any information made available through a 24 website established pursuant to section 205 of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 HR 8235 RFS E–Government Act of 2002 shall be included in the 1 system. 2 (4) Any website for the system shall substan- 3 tially comply with the requirements under sub- 4 sections (b) and (c) of section 205 of the E–Govern- 5 ment Act of 2002. 6 (5) To the extent practicable, external websites 7 shall be able to link to documents on the system. 8 Each website established pursuant to section 205 of 9 the E–Government Act of 2002 shall contain a link 10 to the system. 11 (c) DATA STANDARDS.— 12 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATA STANDARDS.— 13 The Director of the Administrative Office of the 14 United States Courts, in coordination with the Ad- 15 ministrator of General Services and the Archivist of 16 the United States, shall establish data standards for 17 the system described in this section and section 3. 18 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards es- 19 tablished under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent 20 reasonable and practicable— 21 (A) incorporate widely accepted common 22 data elements; 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 HR 8235 RFS (B) incorporate a widely accepted, non- 1 proprietary, full text searchable, platform-inde- 2 pendent computer-readable format; and 3 (C) be capable of being continually up- 4 graded as necessary. 5 (3) DEADLINES.—Not later than 9 months 6 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 7 of the Administrative Office of the United States 8 Courts shall issue guidance to all Federal courts on 9 the data standards established under this section. 10 (d) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In carrying out the du- 11 ties under subsection (a), the Director shall use modern 12 technology in order— 13 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, data 14 quality, affordability, and performance; and 15 (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. 16 (e) DATE SPECIFIED.—The date specified in this 17 subsection is January 1, 2025, unless the Administrator 18 of General Services certifies to Congress, by not later than 19 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, that 20 an additional period of time is required. If the Adminis- 21 trator so certifies, the date specified in this subsection 22 shall be a date that is no later than January 1, 2026. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 HR 8235 RFS (f) FUNDS FOR ESTABLISHMENT, OPERATION, AND 1 MAINTENANCE OF MODERNIZED COURT RECORDS SYS- 2 TEM.— 3 (1) SHORT TERM ACCESS FEES TO FUND DE- 4 VELOPMENT AND DELIVERY OF MODERNIZED COURT 5 RECORDS SYSTEM.—Until the date specified in sub- 6 section (e), to cover the costs of carrying out this 7 section and section 3 and pursuant to sections 1913, 8 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, United 9 States Code, the Judicial Conference shall prescribe 10 a progressive schedule of reasonable additional fees 11 for persons, other than government agencies, who 12 accrue fees for electronic access to information 13 under section 303 of Public Law 102–140 (28 14 U.S.C. 1913 note; 105 Stat. 807) in an amount of 15 $6,000 or greater in any quarter. Any such addi- 16 tional fees shall be assessed on a progressive fee 17 schedule according to the level of use so that higher 18 volume users are assessed higher fees. 19 (2) PRICING FOR HIGH-VOLUME, FOR-PROFIT 20 USE.— 21 (A) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to sections 22 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, 23 United States Code, the Director of the Admin- 24 istrative Office of the United States Courts, in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 HR 8235 RFS coordination with the Administrator of General 1 Services and the Office of Technology Trans- 2 formation of the General Services Administra- 3 tion, may prescribe a schedule of reasonable 4 fees for high-volume, for-profit public users of 5 the system described in this section and section 6 3, to facilitate service-level agreements for max- 7 imum response times, integrations, high avail- 8 ability, and service and support. 9 (B) FEE REQUIREMENTS.—The schedule 10 of fees described in paragraph (1) shall be 11 based on a determination of specific and sub- 12 stantial need, and may not impair access to jus- 13 tice and the public right of access to court 14 records, restrain innovation in the provision of 15 legal services and access to public court records, 16 nor inhibit not for profit research of the busi- 17 ness of the Federal courts. 18 (3) FEES TO FUND OPERATION AND MAINTE- 19 NANCE OF MODERNIZED COURT RECORDS SYS- 20 TEM.— 21 (A) IN GENERAL.—To cover the costs of 22 carrying out this Act, the Judicial Conference 23 of the United States may, only to the extent 24 necessary, prescribe schedules of reasonable 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 HR 8235 RFS user fees, pursuant to sections 1913, 1914, 1 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, United States 2 Code. Such fees shall be based on the extent of 3 use of the system described under this section 4 and section 3 as well as factors such as feasi- 5 bility, fairness to other users of the system, and 6 efficacy, and may not foreclose access to justice 7 and the public right of access to court records. 8 (B) FILING FEES PROHIBITED.—The Judi- 9 cial Conference of the United States may not 10 prescribe filing fees to cover the cost of the sys- 11 tem described in this section and section 3 un- 12 less the Judicial Conference determines that all 13 other sources of fees will not cover the costs of 14 such system. Only after such a determination 15 and only to the extent necessary, the Judicial 16 Conference may prescribe schedules of progres- 17 sive filing fees under subparagraph (A). In ad- 18 dition to the requirements of subparagraph (A), 19 such filing fees— 20 (i) shall be based on factors to ensure 21 that such schedules are graduated and eq- 22 uitable, including the type of action and 23 claim for relief, the status of a filer, the 24 amount of damages demanded, the esti- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 HR 8235 RFS mated complexity of the type of action, and 1 the interests of justice; 2 (ii) may be prescribed for the filing of 3 a counterclaim; 4 (iii) shall not apply in the case of a 5 pro se litigant or litigant who certifies the 6 litigant’s financial hardship; 7 (iv) shall not be a basis for rejecting 8 a filing or otherwise denying a party seek- 9 ing relief access to the courts of the United 10 States; 11 (v) shall be assessed according to 12 schedules, not on a case-by-case, ad hoc 13 basis; and 14 (vi) shall not be greater than 15 per- 15 cent of any other fees associated with the 16 filing. 17 (4) USE OF FUNDS.— 18 (A) DEPOSIT FEES.—All fees collected 19 under this subsection shall be deposited as off- 20 setting collections to the Judiciary Information 21 Technology Fund pursuant to section 22 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United States Code, to 23 reimburse expenses incurred in carrying out 24 this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 HR 8235 RFS (B) AUTHORIZED USES OF FEES.— 1 Amounts deposited to the Judiciary Information 2 Technology Fund pursuant to this paragraph 3 and not used to reimburse expenses incurred in 4 carrying out this section and section 3 may be 5 used pursuant to section 612(a) of title 28, 6 United States Code. 7 (5) INTEREST OF JUSTICE.—A court may waive 8 any fee imposed under paragraph (3) in the interest 9 of justice upon motion. 10 (6) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraphs (2) and (3) 11 shall take effect on the date specified in subsection 12 (e). Paragraph (1) and section 303 of Public Law 13 102–140 (28 U.S.C. 1913 note; 105 Stat. 807) shall 14 cease to have effect on that date. 15 SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS 16 SYSTEM REQUIREMENT. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date specified 18 in section 2(e), and subject to any certification under sec- 19 tion 6(b), the Director of the Administrative Office of the 20 United States Courts, in coordination with the Adminis- 21 trator of General Services, shall make all materials in the 22 system described in section 2 and this section publicly ac- 23 cessible, free of charge and without requiring registration. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 HR 8235 RFS (b) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In providing public ac- 1 cess under subsection (a), the Director shall, in coordina- 2 tion with the Administrator of General Services, use mod- 3 ern technology in order— 4 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, qual- 5 ity, ease of public access, affordability, and perform- 6 ance; and 7 (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. 8 (c) FUNDING FOR PUBLIC ACCESS TO MODERNIZED 9 ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS SYSTEM.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—To cover any marginal costs 11 of ensuring the public accessibility, free of charge, of 12 all materials in the system in accordance with this 13 section, the Judicial Conference of the United States 14 shall collect an annual fee from Federal agencies 15 equal to the Public Access to Court Electronic 16 Records access fees paid by those agencies in 2018, 17 as adjusted for inflation. All fees collected under this 18 subsection shall be deposited as offsetting collections 19 to the Judiciary Information Technology Fund pur- 20 suant to section 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United 21 States Code, to reimburse expenses incurred in pro- 22 viding services in accordance with this section. 23 (2) AUTHORIZED USES OF FEES.—Amounts de- 24 posited to the Judiciary Information Technology 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 HR 8235 RFS Fund pursuant to this subsection and not used to 1 reimburse expenses incurred in carrying out this sec- 2 tion may be used to reimburse expenses incurred in 3 carrying out section 2. Amounts not used to reim- 4 burse expenses incurred in carrying out section 2 5 may be used pursuant to section 612(a) of title 28, 6 United States Code. 7 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 8 take effect beginning on the date specified in section 9 2(e). 10 SEC. 4. ENSURING MODERN DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS. 11 (a) INDUSTRY STANDARDS.—The system described 12 in sections 2 and 3 shall be developed in accordance with 13 industry standards for the incremental development of 14 new information technology systems, including user-cen- 15 tered design, Agile software development practices and 16 procurement, and service-oriented architecture. 17 (b) ANALYSES.—The Director of the Administrative 18 Office of the United States Courts shall, in cooperation 19 with the Administrator of General Services, conduct reg- 20 ular analyses at each stage of system development to en- 21 sure that any requirements— 22 (1) are consistent with this Act; 23 (2) meet the business needs of users of the sys- 24 tem, the public, and the judiciary; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 HR 8235 RFS (3) comply with relevant statutes and rules, in- 1 cluding chapter 131 of title 28, United States Code 2 (commonly known as the ‘‘Rules Enabling Act’’), the 3 Federal Rules of Procedure, and local rules and or- 4 ders of Federal courts. 5 (c) INITIAL PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Ad- 7 ministrative Office of the United States Courts shall sub- 8 mit to Congress a report with respect to its initial plan 9 for development of the system after consultation with the 10 Office of Technology Transformation Services of the Gen- 11 eral Services Administration and the United States Digital 12 Service, which may include an analysis of the state of the 13 system as of the date of enactment of this Act, an ap- 14 proach for developing the system consistent with sections 15 2 and 3 of this Act, and a proposed timeline for develop- 16 ment. 17 (d) REPORTS AND NOTICE.— 18 (1) REPORTS.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each quarter after the 20 issuance of the report described in subsection 21 (c), the Director of the Administrative Office of 22 the United States Courts shall report quarterly 23 to the Committees on the Judiciary of the 24 House of Representatives and the Senate on 25 Ve [Text truncated for display. 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