[blindLaw] Bipartisan bill to make PACER free & 508 accessible: Open Courts Act of 2020, HR 8235

[Sai]

I've read the text in full, and I think everyone should take action to
support this.

Anyone doing public interest related litigation, and literally all legal
research related to US Federal cases, should be substantially benefitted.

Full details below. In short, enacting the bill would mean that PACER
(where all US federal court records are kept), within 2-3 years, has to
1. add full text search (totally absent now except in third party products),
2. be 508 compliant (major plus for blind people & computer based bulk data
research),
3. be centralized (right now it's run separately by each court), &
4. be 100% free to everyone;

5. in the meantime, have a minimum billing threshold of $25k/quarter in the
meantime;

and
6. limits filing fees to be proportional to dollar amounts at issue, with
total exemption for pro se & poor (IFP) litigants — and double billing DOJ
to help fund it.


* I have one reservation: it totally exempts prisoners from benefiting.
That's in line with the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act, which imposed a lot
of restrictions on prisoner litigants. I don't think this is fair or just…
but it's the status quo, not a worsening, and probably open to legal
challenge on that basis anyway.


Feel free to forward this etc however you see fit. I'd appreciate a CC & an
email with link to any resulting posts, action, etc.


# Details


Open Courts Act of 2020, HR 8235

<https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/8235>

All most relevant sections are excerpted & summarized below (by me).

Markup: <https://youtube.com/watch?t=30804&v=PjPVspAQzwM> — starts at
8:33:26 (near the very end); most of the video is totally unrelated


Cosponsors:

Rep. Doug Collins [R-GA-9]
* (202) 225-1605
* House Judiciary Committee Democrat #5
** Courts, IP, & Internet subcommittee #1 (chair)
Rep. Hank Johnson, Jr. [D-GA-4]
* (202) 225-9893
* Judiciary Republican #2
** subcommittee #3

Judiciary committee: (202) 225-3951
Courts subcommittee: (202) 225-5741


# Bill text excerpt & summary

SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS SYSTEMS.
    (a) Consolidation.
… [AOUSC & GSA] shall establish, maintain, and operate … one system for all
public court records.
…
            (3 & 4) [ Must include info from, and comply with, 2002
E-Government Act § 205 ]

…
    (c) Data Standards.--
            …
            (2) Requirements.
…
                    (B) incorporate a widely accepted, nonproprietary, full
text searchable, platform-independent computer-readable format;
…
    (e) [ deadline: 2 years after enactment, plus one year it GSA asks for
an extension ]


    (f) Funds for Establishment, Operation, and Maintenance of Modernized
Court Records System.--
            (1) Short term access fees to fund establishment of modernized
court records system.--
                    (A) [ amend 28 USC 1913 note to say AOUSC can ONLY
charge fees over $25,000 per quarter ]
                    (B) [ any exceeds can be used per 28 USC 612(a) ]
                    (C) [ effective immediately on enactment ]

            (2) Filing fees to fund operation and maintenance of modernized
court records system.
                    (A) [ re-amend the same USC note to delete the above,
together with the entire previous paragraphs a & b, and say

(a) AOUSC can charge fees, per 28 USC §§ 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, & 1932,
only as necessary to maintain the new PACER:
(1)(A) based on amount of use
(1)(B) based on amount of damages claim & case complexity
(1)(C) counterclaim fee allowed
(1)(D) not at all for pro se & IFP litigants
(2) proof of claim/interest for FRBP 3002 & 3003 based on amount involved

(b) use limited to Judiciary Information Technology Fund, 28 USC
612(c)(1)(A), for new PACER's costs
(c) fee schedule must be reviewed every 3 years
(d) exceeds can still be used per 28 USC 612(a)
]

                    (B) [ effective at the same time as the new PACER
above, ie 2 or 3 years after enactment ]


SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS SYSTEM REQUIREMENT.

    (a) [ everything on PACER is free, starting on the same 2/3 year start
date ]

    (b) [ AOUSC can add a 5 day max delay before public access, for some
categories of records, subject to N&C and automatic 3 year expiration
unless renewed per above, "based on a determination of a specific and
substantial interest in restricting the public right of access to court
records" ]

    (e) Funding for Public Access to Modernized Electronic Court Records
System.
[ amend same USC note to add that funds for the 100% free PACER access will
come from:
            (1) billing DOJ equal to their PACER access fees, with inflation
            (2) if that's not enough, filling fees, under the same rules /
limits as the post-launch version of fees above ]


SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this Act, shall be
construed to--
            (1) affect the filing fees or other filing procedures for
prisoners; or
            (2) abrogate, limit, or modify the requirements [ in 28 USC
1915, the IFP statute ]


SEC. 5. DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS.

[ all of this must be Rehab Act § 508 accessible ]

Sincerely,
Sai
President, Fiat Fiendum, Inc., a 501(c)(3)

PS Non-gendered pronouns please. I'm a US citizen.

Sent from my mobile phone; please excuse the concision and autocorrect
errors.