IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA 

 No. AF 06-0377

 __________________ 

IN THE MATTER OF ) PETITION TO AMEND 

ADOPTING RULES FOR ) AND EXTEND 

PUBLIC ACCESS AND ) IMPLEMENTATION DEADLINE 

PRIVACY TO COURT ) 

RECORDS IN MONTANA ) 

 

__________________________________________________ 

 

 Come now the Chairs of the Taskforce charged by the Montana 

Supreme Court with developing and proposing Rules for Public Access and 

Privacy to Court Records (Rules) in Montana. The Court approved the Rules 

February 13th, 2007, following a Comment period that received seven 

comments. 

 Section 8.30 of the Rules concerns the obligation of the Court to 

inform and educate judges and court personnel about the Access Rules. 

Taskforce members have spent considerable time since February presenting 

and explaining the Rules to clerks of court, magistrates, district court judges 

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and attorneys. In addition, a video was prepared and distributed to 

emphasize the importance of the Montana Constitution’s provisions for 

public access and privacy. 

 During this educational effort we have become aware of awkward 

wording in Section 4.5(c) that we believe has confused many people. We 

request that the Court change the wording of the first line of that section to 

read: 

 Unless required to be made public, the following information is 

 not available without leave of the court: 

Our intent was never to override current statutory requirements. We believe 

this minor change will assist in the general understanding of the rules and 

their implementation. 

 The recent educational efforts have given us a genuine concern that 

the Courts are not yet ready to implement the Rules. There is particular 

difficulty in applying Section 4.5’s restrictions for Social Security numbers, 

full birthdates, financial account numbers, and minors’ full names. Although 

frequently not required by statute, and thus restricted under the new Rules, 

there are dozens of current court forms that require this data. 

 We are requesting that the court delay implementation of the Rules 

until July 1, 2008. We would like a sixty-day comment period for courts and 

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attorneys to tell us which specific forms and processes will have to be 

amended to comply with Section 4.5(c). The Taskforce will use the 

following four months to respond to those specific concerns, modify forms, 

and develop procedures and advice for courts, clerks, and practitioners. 

 THEREFORE, 

 The Taskforce on Public Access and Privacy to Court Records in 

Montana requests the Court to: 

1. Amend Section 4.5(c) to read: 

Unless required to be made public, the following information is 

 not available without leave of the court: 

2. Extend the implementation deadline for the Rules from 

 December 31, 2007 to July 1, 2008, with a sixty day comment 

 period running from January 1 to February 28 to allow 

 comments on implementation difficulties with Section 4.5(c). 

Dated this 11th day of December, 2007. 

 (Signature)

Judy Meadows, State Law Librarian 

State Law Library 

215 N. Sanders Helena, MT, 59620 (406) 444-1979 

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 (Signature)

Karen Nelson, Director of Information Technology 

Office of the Court Administrator 

301 South Park Helena, MT, 59601 (406) 841-2944 

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