II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2064 

To direct the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States 

Courts to consolidate the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 9, 2019 

Mr. PORTMAN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To direct the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

United States Courts to consolidate the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electronic Court 

5 Records Reform Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis2 trator’’ means the Administrator of General Serv3 ices. 

4 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

5 the Director of the Administrative Office of the 

6 United States Courts. 

7 (3) MACHINE-READABLE.—The term ‘‘machine8 readable’’ means a format in which information or 

9 data can be easily processed by a computer without 

10 human intervention while ensuring no semantic 

11 meaning is lost. 

12 SEC. 3. CONSOLIDATION OF THE CASE MANAGEMENT/ELEC13 TRONIC CASE FILES SYSTEM. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

15 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordi16 nation with the Administrator, shall— 

17 (1) consolidate the Case Management/Elec18 tronic Case Files system; and 

19 (2) develop 1 system for all filings with courts 

20 of the United States, which shall be administered by 

21 the Administrative Office of the United States 

22 Courts. 

23 (b) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the system 

24 under subsection (a), the Director shall use modern tech25 nology— 


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1 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, af2 fordability, and performance; and 

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

4 (c) AVAILABILITY TO STATES.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State may choose to par6 ticipate in the system developed under this section. 

7 (2) FEE.—The Director shall charge a fee to a 

8 State that chooses to participate in the system devel9 oped under this section at a level sufficient to re10 cover the cost of providing the services associated 

11 with the administration and maintenance of the sys12 tem to the State. 

13 SEC. 4. PUBLIC ACCESS TO COURT ELECTRONIC RECORDS 

14 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 

16 date of the enactment of this Act, the Director, in coordi17 nation with the Administrator, shall update the Public Ac18 cess to Court Electronic Records system, which shall be 

19 subject to the following requirements: 

20 (1) A document filed with a court shall be made 

21 publicly accessible upon filing, except as ordered by 

22 a court or by rule of the Judicial Conference of the 

23 United States. 


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1 (2) All documents on the system shall be avail2 able to the public and to parties before the court 

3 free of charge. 

4 (3) Any information that is prohibited from 

5 public disclosure by law or court order shall be re6 dacted. 

7 (4) All documents shall be text-searchable and 

8 machine-readable. 

9 (5) To the extent practicable, external websites 

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

11 (6) The system shall include any available dig12 ital audio and visual files of court recordings. 

13 (7) The system shall provide search functions 

14 for public use. 

15 (b) MINIMIZING THE BURDEN ON PRO SE LITI16 GANTS.—In developing the system to comply with the re17 quirements under subsection (a), the Director shall, to the 

18 extent practicable, not impose a disproportionate impact 

19 on pro se litigants. 

20 (c) USE OF TECHNOLOGY.—In developing the system 

21 under subsection (a), the Director shall use modern tech22 nology— 

23 (1) to improve security, data accessibility, af24 fordability, and performance; and 

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


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1 (d) AUTHORITY TO EXEMPT CERTAIN DOCU2 MENTS.—The Director may identify categories of— 

3 (1) documents that are not made publicly acces4 sible under subsection (a)(1); and 

5 (2) court proceedings, the recordings of which 

6 are not made available under subsection (a)(6). 

7 (e) FILING FEES.—The Judiciary Appropriations 

8 Act, 1992 (title III of Public Law 102–140; 105 Stat. 

9 807) is amended by striking section 303 (28 U.S.C. 1913 

10 note) and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 303. (a)(1) To cover the costs of maintaining 

12 the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system in 

13 accordance with section 4 of the Electronic Court Records 

14 Reform Act of 2019, the Judicial Conference— 

15 ‘‘(A) shall collect an annual fee from the De16 partment of Justice equal to the Public Access to 

17 Court Electronic Records access fees paid by the De18 partment of Justice in 2018, as adjusted for infla19 tion; and 

20 ‘‘(B) may, only to the extent necessary, pre21 scribe reasonable filing fees, pursuant to sections 

22 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, 

23 United States Code, for collection by the courts 

24 under those sections. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The filing fees shall be commensurate with the 

2 burden imposed on the court by the party. The filing fees 

3 shall impose a lesser fee on filers who are filing on behalf 

4 of individuals. Pro se litigants and litigants who certify 

5 their financial hardship shall not be subject to the filing 

6 fees. The Director of the Administrative Office of the 

7 United States Courts, under the direction of the Judicial 

8 Conference of the United States, shall prescribe a schedule 

9 of reasonable filing fees to cover the costs described in 

10 this subsection that the Director shall maintain and make 

11 available to the public. 

12 ‘‘(b) The Judicial Conference and the Director shall 

13 transmit each schedule of fees prescribed under subsection 

14 (a) to Congress at least 30 days before the schedule be15 comes effective. All fees collected under subsection (a) 

16 shall be deposited as offsetting collections to the Judiciary 

17 Information Technology Fund pursuant to section 

18 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United States Code, to reimburse 

19 expenses incurred in providing services in accordance with 

20 section 4 of the Electronic Court Records Reform Act of 

21 2019.’’. 

22 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act, 

23 or the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed 

24 to— 


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1 (1) affect the filing fees or other filing proce2 dures for prisoners; or 

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

4 described in section 1915 of title 28, United States 

5 Code. 

Æ 


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