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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Open Courts Act of 

3 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. MODERNIZATION OF ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS 

5 SYSTEMS. 

6 (a) CONSOLIDATION.—Not later than the date speci7 fied in subsection (e), as modified by any adjustments cer8 tified pursuant to section 6(b), the Director of the Admin9 istrative Office of the United States Courts, in coordina10 tion with the Administrator of General Services, shall de11 velop, deliver, and sustain, consistent with the require12 ments of this section and section 3, one system for all pub13 lic court records. 

14 (b) REQUIREMENTS OF SYSTEM.—The system de15 scribed in subsection (a) shall comply with the following 

16 requirements: 

17 (1) The system shall provide search functions, 

18 developed in coordination with the Administrator of 

19 General Services, for use by the public and by par20 ties before the court. 

21 (2) The system shall make public court records 

22 automatically accessible to the public upon receipt of 

23 such records. 

24 (3) Any information made available through a 

25 website established pursuant to section 205 of the 


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1 E–Government Act of 2002 shall be included in the 

2 system. 

3 (4) Any website for the system shall substan4 tially comply with the requirements under sub5 sections (b) and (c) of section 205 of the E–Govern6 ment Act of 2002. 

7 (5) To the extent practicable, external websites 

8 shall be able to link to documents on the system. 

9 Each website established pursuant to section 205 of 

10 the E–Government Act of 2002 shall contain a link 

11 to the system. 

12 (c) DATA STANDARDS.— 

13 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF DATA STANDARDS.— 

14 The Director of the Administrative Office of the 

15 United States Courts, in coordination with the Ad16 ministrator of General Services and the Archivist of 

17 the United States, shall establish data standards for 

18 the system described in this section and section 3. 

19 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The data standards es20 tablished under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent 

21 reasonable and practicable— 

22 (A) incorporate widely accepted common 

23 data elements; 


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1 (B) incorporate a widely accepted, non2 proprietary, full text searchable, platform-inde3 pendent computer-readable format; and 

4 (C) be capable of being continually up5 graded as necessary. 

6 (3) DEADLINES.—Not later than 9 months 

7 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director 

8 of the Administrative Office of the United States 

9 Courts shall issue guidance to all Federal courts on 

10 the data standards established under this section. 

11 (d) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In carrying out the du12 ties under subsection (a), the Director shall use modern 

13 technology in order— 

14 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, data 

15 quality, affordability, and performance; and 

16 (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. 

17 (e) DATE SPECIFIED.—The date specified in this 

18 subsection is January 1, 2025, unless the Administrator 

19 of General Services certifies to Congress, by not later than 

20 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, that 

21 an additional period of time is required. If the Adminis22 trator so certifies, the date specified in this subsection 

23 shall be a date that is no later than January 1, 2026. 


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1 (f) FUNDS FOR ESTABLISHMENT, OPERATION, AND

2 MAINTENANCE OF MODERNIZED COURT RECORDS SYS3 TEM.— 

4 (1) SHORT TERM ACCESS FEES TO FUND DE5 VELOPMENT AND DELIVERY OF MODERNIZED COURT

6 RECORDS SYSTEM.—Until the date specified in sub7 section (e), to cover the costs of carrying out this 

8 section and section 3 and pursuant to sections 1913, 

9 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, United 

10 States Code, the Judicial Conference shall prescribe 

11 a progressive schedule of reasonable additional fees 

12 for persons, other than government agencies, who 

13 accrue fees for electronic access to information 

14 under section 303 of Public Law 102–140 (28 

15 U.S.C. 1913 note; 105 Stat. 807) in an amount of 

16 $6,000 or greater in any quarter. Any such addi17 tional fees shall be assessed on a progressive fee 

18 schedule according to the level of use so that higher 

19 volume users are assessed higher fees. 

20 (2) PRICING FOR HIGH-VOLUME, FOR-PROFIT

21 USE.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to sections 

23 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, 

24 United States Code, the Director of the Admin25 istrative Office of the United States Courts, in 


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1 coordination with the Administrator of General 

2 Services and the Office of Technology Trans3 formation of the General Services Administra4 tion, may prescribe a schedule of reasonable 

5 fees for high-volume, for-profit public users of 

6 the system described in this section and section 

7 3, to facilitate service-level agreements for max8 imum response times, integrations, high avail9 ability, and service and support. 

10 (B) FEE REQUIREMENTS.—The schedule 

11 of fees described in paragraph (1) shall be 

12 based on a determination of specific and sub13 stantial need, and may not impair access to jus14 tice and the public right of access to court 

15 records, restrain innovation in the provision of 

16 legal services and access to public court records, 

17 nor inhibit not for profit research of the busi18 ness of the Federal courts. 

19 (3) FEES TO FUND OPERATION AND MAINTE20 NANCE OF MODERNIZED COURT RECORDS SYS21 TEM.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—To cover the costs of 

23 carrying out this Act, the Judicial Conference 

24 of the United States may, only to the extent 

25 necessary, prescribe schedules of reasonable 


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1 user fees, pursuant to sections 1913, 1914, 

2 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, United States 

3 Code. Such fees shall be based on the extent of 

4 use of the system described under this section 

5 and section 3 as well as factors such as feasi6 bility, fairness to other users of the system, and 

7 efficacy, and may not foreclose access to justice 

8 and the public right of access to court records. 

9 (B) FILING FEES PROHIBITED.—The Judi10 cial Conference of the United States may not 

11 prescribe filing fees to cover the cost of the sys12 tem described in this section and section 3 un13 less the Judicial Conference determines that all 

14 other sources of fees will not cover the costs of 

15 such system. Only after such a determination 

16 and only to the extent necessary, the Judicial 

17 Conference may prescribe schedules of progres18 sive filing fees under subparagraph (A). In ad19 dition to the requirements of subparagraph (A), 

20 such filing fees— 

21 (i) shall be based on factors to ensure 

22 that such schedules are graduated and eq23 uitable, including the type of action and 

24 claim for relief, the status of a filer, the 

25 amount of damages demanded, the estiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Dec 11, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8235.RFS H8235

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1 mated complexity of the type of action, and 

2 the interests of justice; 

3 (ii) may be prescribed for the filing of 

4 a counterclaim; 

5 (iii) shall not apply in the case of a 

6 pro se litigant or litigant who certifies the 

7 litigant’s financial hardship; 

8 (iv) shall not be a basis for rejecting 

9 a filing or otherwise denying a party seek10 ing relief access to the courts of the United 

11 States; 

12 (v) shall be assessed according to 

13 schedules, not on a case-by-case, ad hoc 

14 basis; and 

15 (vi) shall not be greater than 15 per16 cent of any other fees associated with the 

17 filing. 

18 (4) USE OF FUNDS.— 

19 (A) DEPOSIT FEES.—All fees collected 

20 under this subsection shall be deposited as off21 setting collections to the Judiciary Information 

22 Technology Fund pursuant to section 

23 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United States Code, to 

24 reimburse expenses incurred in carrying out 

25 this section. 


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1 (B) AUTHORIZED USES OF FEES.— 

2 Amounts deposited to the Judiciary Information 

3 Technology Fund pursuant to this paragraph 

4 and not used to reimburse expenses incurred in 

5 carrying out this section and section 3 may be 

6 used pursuant to section 612(a) of title 28, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (5) INTEREST OF JUSTICE.—A court may waive 

9 any fee imposed under paragraph (3) in the interest 

10 of justice upon motion. 

11 (6) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraphs (2) and (3) 

12 shall take effect on the date specified in subsection 

13 (e). Paragraph (1) and section 303 of Public Law 

14 102–140 (28 U.S.C. 1913 note; 105 Stat. 807) shall 

15 cease to have effect on that date. 

16 SEC. 3. PUBLIC ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS 

17 SYSTEM REQUIREMENT. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than the date specified 

19 in section 2(e), and subject to any certification under sec20 tion 6(b), the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

21 United States Courts, in coordination with the Adminis22 trator of General Services, shall make all materials in the 

23 system described in section 2 and this section publicly ac24 cessible, free of charge and without requiring registration. 


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1 (b) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In providing public ac2 cess under subsection (a), the Director shall, in coordina3 tion with the Administrator of General Services, use mod4 ern technology in order— 

5 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, qual6 ity, ease of public access, affordability, and perform7 ance; and 

8 (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. 

9 (c) FUNDING FOR PUBLIC ACCESS TO MODERNIZED

10 ELECTRONIC COURT RECORDS SYSTEM.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—To cover any marginal costs 

12 of ensuring the public accessibility, free of charge, of 

13 all materials in the system in accordance with this 

14 section, the Judicial Conference of the United States 

15 shall collect an annual fee from Federal agencies 

16 equal to the Public Access to Court Electronic 

17 Records access fees paid by those agencies in 2018, 

18 as adjusted for inflation. All fees collected under this 

19 subsection shall be deposited as offsetting collections 

20 to the Judiciary Information Technology Fund pur21 suant to section 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United 

22 States Code, to reimburse expenses incurred in pro23 viding services in accordance with this section. 

24 (2) AUTHORIZED USES OF FEES.—Amounts de25 posited to the Judiciary Information Technology 


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1 Fund pursuant to this subsection and not used to 

2 reimburse expenses incurred in carrying out this sec3 tion may be used to reimburse expenses incurred in 

4 carrying out section 2. Amounts not used to reim5 burse expenses incurred in carrying out section 2 

6 may be used pursuant to section 612(a) of title 28, 

7 United States Code. 

8 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Paragraph (1) shall 

9 take effect beginning on the date specified in section 

10 2(e). 

11 SEC. 4. ENSURING MODERN DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS. 

12 (a) INDUSTRY STANDARDS.—The system described 

13 in sections 2 and 3 shall be developed in accordance with 

14 industry standards for the incremental development of 

15 new information technology systems, including user-cen16 tered design, Agile software development practices and 

17 procurement, and service-oriented architecture. 

18 (b) ANALYSES.—The Director of the Administrative 

19 Office of the United States Courts shall, in cooperation 

20 with the Administrator of General Services, conduct reg21 ular analyses at each stage of system development to en22 sure that any requirements— 

23 (1) are consistent with this Act; 

24 (2) meet the business needs of users of the sys25 tem, the public, and the judiciary; and 


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1 (3) comply with relevant statutes and rules, in2 cluding chapter 131 of title 28, United States Code 

3 (commonly known as the ‘‘Rules Enabling Act’’), the 

4 Federal Rules of Procedure, and local rules and or5 ders of Federal courts. 

6 (c) INITIAL PLAN.—Not later than 6 months after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Ad8 ministrative Office of the United States Courts shall sub9 mit to Congress a report with respect to its initial plan 

10 for development of the system after consultation with the 

11 Office of Technology Transformation Services of the Gen12 eral Services Administration and the United States Digital 

13 Service, which may include an analysis of the state of the 

14 system as of the date of enactment of this Act, an ap15 proach for developing the system consistent with sections 

16 2 and 3 of this Act, and a proposed timeline for develop17 ment. 

18 (d) REPORTS AND NOTICE.— 

19 (1) REPORTS.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each quarter after the 

21 issuance of the report described in subsection 

22 (c), the Director of the Administrative Office of 

23 the United States Courts shall report quarterly 

24 to the Committees on the Judiciary of the 

25 House of Representatives and the Senate on 


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1 progress of the development of the system, im2 provements achieved, and risks that arise (such 

3 as lack of funding source or lack of techno4 logical solutions to meet the needs of this Act 

5 or applicable statutes and rules). Such report 

6 shall include an assessment of vendors’ compli7 ance with a quality assessment surveillance 

8 plan, code quality, and whether the system is 

9 meeting users’ needs. 

10 (B) SYSTEM STATUS.—Not later than 60 

11 days after the end of each fiscal year, the 

12 Comptroller General of the United States shall 

13 report to Congress on the policies, goals, per14 formance, budget, contracts, fee proposals, and 

15 user fees of the Administrative Office of the 

16 United States Courts, including input from a 

17 cross-section of the nongovernmental users and 

18 stakeholders, with respect to the system de19 scribed in sections 2 and 3 of this Act. 

20 (2) NOTICE.—Not later than 6 months after 

21 the date of enactment of this Act, and quarterly 

22 thereafter, the Comptroller General of the United 

23 States shall notify Congress that the Director of the 

24 Administrative Office of the United States Courts 

25 has— 


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1 (A) produced additional usable 

2 functionality of the system described under sec3 tions 2 and 3 of this Act; 

4 (B) held live, publicly accessible dem5 onstrations of software in development; and 

6 (C) allowed the Comptroller General or a 

7 designee to attend all sprint reviews held during 

8 such 6 month or quarterly period. 

9 SEC. 5. REVIEW AND PUBLICATION OF USER FEES. 

10 (a) PERIODIC REVIEW.—The Judicial Conference of 

11 the United States shall review any schedule of fees pre12 scribed under this Act 3 years after such schedule becomes 

13 effective and every 3 years thereafter to ensure that the 

14 schedule meets the requirement of this Act. If a fee sched15 ule does not meet such requirements, the Judicial Con16 ference shall prescribe a new schedule of fees pursuant 

17 to this section and submit the new schedule of fees to Con18 gress pursuant to this section. 

19 (b) FEE PROPOSAL AND COMMENT PERIODS.— 

20 (1) PUBLIC COMMENT.—The Judicial Con21 ference of the United States shall publish any sched22 ule of new fees or fee adjustments, as authorized 

23 under this Act, in the Federal Register and on the 

24 website of the United States Courts. The Judicial 


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1 Conference shall accept public comment on the pro2 posed fees for a period of not less than 60 days. 

3 (2) PUBLICATION OF FINAL SCHEDULE OF NEW

4 FEES OR FEE ADJUSTMENTS.—After the period 

5 specified in paragraph (2), the final schedule of new 

6 fees or fee adjustments shall be published in the 

7 Federal Register and on the website of the United 

8 States Courts along with an explanation of any 

9 changes from the proposed schedule of new fees or 

10 fee adjustments. 

11 (3) CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW PERIOD.—A 

12 schedule of fees set or adjusted under paragraph (3) 

13 may not become effective— 

14 (A) before the end of the 90-day period be15 ginning on the day after the date on which the 

16 Judicial Conference publishes the schedule of 

17 new fees or fee adjustments under paragraph 

18 (3); or 

19 (B) if a law is enacted disapproving such 

20 fee. 

21 (c) STUDY.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Judicial Conference of 

23 the United States shall periodically study the system 

24 described in sections 2 and 3 of this Act in accord25 ance with this section. The study shall examine— 


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1 (A) the relative extent to which specific 

2 functions and usage of the system are sup3 ported, directly or indirectly, by fees, appropria4 tions, and other sources of revenue; and 

5 (B) whether, and to what extent, there are 

6 additional fees of any kind that could be more 

7 appropriately imposed to support the operations 

8 and maintenance of the system and whether or 

9 not any such fees should or must be imposed by 

10 statute or by judiciary regulation; 

11 (C) whether, and to what extent, there are 

12 additional appropriations that should be pur13 sued that should be provided to support the sys14 tem in lieu of fees; and 

15 (D) whether, and to what extent, there are 

16 other sources of revenue that should be pro17 vided to support the system. 

18 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining the ap19 propriateness of any fees, the Judicial Conference of 

20 the United States shall consider the extent to which 

21 any such fees would— 

22 (A) negatively or positively affect the ad23 ministration of justice; 

24 (B) impose inappropriate burdens on ac25 cess to justice by litigants; 


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1 (C) relate to the relative impact of activi2 ties on system costs; 

3 (D) improve fairness to users; 

4 (E) otherwise be fair or unfair to the pub5 lic; 

6 (F) be feasible to implement effectively; 

7 and 

8 (G) generate meaningful revenue. 

9 (3) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the 

10 date of enactment of this Act, the Judicial Con11 ference of the United States shall submit to the 

12 Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Rep13 resentative and the Senate a report on the conclu14 sions of the study described under this section. 

15 (4) FEE AUTHORITY.—If the Judicial Con16 ference of the United States determines, pursuant to 

17 subsection (a), that additional fees are reasonable 

18 and necessary to fund the system described in sec19 tions 2 and 3, it may promulgate such fees pursuant 

20 to section 2(f)(3)(A). 

21 (5) ADDITIONAL REPORT.—Not less frequently 

22 than every 3 years, the Judicial Conference shall re23 view the matters described in this subsection and re24 port any new findings to Congress as described in 


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1 this subsection. Any fees may be adjusted pursuant 

2 to section 2(f)(3)(A). 

3 SEC. 6. REPORTING AND CERTIFICATION TO CONGRESS ON 

4 FINANCES. 

5 (a) ANNUAL REPORT AND CONSULTATION CON6 CERNING FUNDING FOR THE FOLLOWING FISCAL

7 YEAR.—At the beginning of each fiscal year after the date 

8 of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Administra9 tive Office of the United States Courts shall submit to 

10 the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Rep11 resentatives and the Senate a report on— 

12 (1) the status of funding the system described 

13 under sections 2 and 3; and 

14 (2) plans for any new fee proposals or adjust15 ments and whether there is a foreseeable need to use 

16 the certification authority provided under subsection 

17 (b)(2) in the following fiscal year. 

18 (b) CERTIFICATION REGARDING ANTICIPATED

19 FUNDING IN THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Admin21 istrative Office of the United States Courts may 

22 treat any and all receipts, funds, expenditures and 

23 costs associated with the system established under 

24 sections 2 and 3 as constituting a separate item in 

25 its budget distinct from the remainder of its budget. 


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1 (2) CERTIFICATION.—At the beginning of a fis2 cal year, starting in fiscal year 2023, and only when 

3 necessary, the Director of the Administrative Office 

4 of the United States Courts may submit a certifi5 cation, including supporting documentation and 

6 analysis, to the Committees on the Judiciary of the 

7 House of Representatives and the Senate, which— 

8 (A) identifies any expected deficit in funds 

9 for that fiscal year; and 

10 (B) specifies the Director’s response for 

11 such deficit for the remainder of that fiscal 

12 year, including— 

13 (i) modifying the scope and scale of 

14 the system described in sections 2 and 3; 

15 (ii) increasing fees or other receipts 

16 within the Judicial Conference’s authority; 

17 and 

18 (iii) temporarily delaying the delivery 

19 of the system. 

20 (3) CONSULTATION.—Not later than 30 days 

21 after receipt of the certification described in para22 graph (2), the Director of the Administrative Office 

23 of the United States Courts and the Chairs and 

24 Ranking Members of the Committees on the Judici25 ary of the House of Representatives and the Senate 


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1 shall meet in person concerning the certification, 

2 supporting documentation, and analysis. 

3 (4) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Director of the 

4 Administrative Office of the United States Courts 

5 may implement its response described in paragraph 

6 (2) any time after the 30-day period following the 

7 consultation described in paragraph (3). 

8 (5) GAO REVIEW.—In any fiscal year during 

9 which such certification is issued and implemented, 

10 the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

11 conduct a comprehensive review of the certification 

12 not later than 120 days after its submission, includ13 ing— 

14 (A) the accuracy of the expectations of the 

15 Director of the Administrative Office of the 

16 United States Courts with respect to any deficit 

17 in funds; 

18 (B) the efficacy of the Director’s rec19 ommended response, and 

20 (C) the Comptroller General’s rec21 ommendations for alternative or additional re22 sponses submitted as a report to the Director 

23 and Committees on the Judiciary of the House 

24 of Representatives and the Senate. 


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1 (6) DIRECTOR RESPONSE TO REVIEW.—Not 

2 later than 60 days after the Comptroller General of 

3 the United States conducts a review under para4 graph (5), the Director of the Administrative Office 

5 of the United States Courts shall prepare and sub6 mit to the Committees on the Judiciary of the 

7 House of Representatives and the Senate a response 

8 to such review. 

9 SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

10 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

11 Act, shall be construed to— 

12 (1) affect the filing fees or other filing proce13 dures for prisoners; or 

14 (2) abrogate, limit, or modify the requirements 

15 described in section 1915 of title 28, United States 

16 Code. 

17 SEC. 8. DIGITAL ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS. 

18 The system described under sections 2 and 3 of this 

19 Act shall comply with relevant digital accessibility stand20 ards established pursuant to section 508 of the Rehabilita21 tion Act of 1973. 

22 SEC. 9. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS. 

23 The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 

24 complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, 

25 shall be determined by reference to the latest statement 


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1 titled ‘‘Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation’’ for this 

2 Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record 

3 by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, pro4 vided that such statement has been submitted prior to the 

5 vote on passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 8, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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