Title: Electronic Court Records Reform Act of 2019
Policy area: Law

Summary:
Electronic Court Records Reform Act of 2019
This bill directs the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, in coordination with the General Services Administration, to consolidate the Case Management/Electronic Case Files system into one system.
Additionally, it establishes certain requirements for the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, including the following:

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1164 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1164

   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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 2019

 Mr. Collins of Georgia (for himself, Mr. Quigley, Mr. David P. Roe of 
 Tennessee, and Mr. Johnson of Georgia) introduced the following bill; 
          which was 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Electronic Court Records Reform Act 
of 2019''.

SEC. 2. CONSOLIDATION OF THE CASE MANAGEMENT/ELECTRONIC CASE FILES 
              SYSTEM.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Administrative Office of the 
United States Courts, in coordination with the Administrator of General 
Services, shall consolidate the Case Management/Electronic Case Files 
system, and shall develop one system for all filings with courts of the 
United States, which shall be administered by the Administrative Office 
of the United States Courts.
    (b) Use of Technology.--In developing the system under subsection 
(a), the Director shall use modern technology in order--
            (1) to improve security, data accessibility, affordability, 
        and performance; and
            (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants.
    (c) Availability to States.--
            (1) In general.--A State may choose to participate in the 
        system developed under this section.
            (2) Fee.--The Director shall charge a fee to a State that 
        chooses to participate in the system, which is set at a level 
        to recover the cost of providing the services associated with 
        the administration and maintenance of the system to the State.

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

    (a) In General.--Not later than 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Director of the Administrative Office of the 
United States Courts, in coordination with the Administrator of General 
Services, shall update the Public Access to Court Electronic Records 
system, which shall be subject to the following requirements:
            (1) A document filed with a court shall be made publicly 
        accessible upon filing, except as ordered by a court or by rule 
        of the Judicial Conference.
            (2) All documents on the system shall be available to the 
        public and to parties before the court free of charge.
            (3) Any information that is prohibited from public 
        disclosure by law or court order shall be redacted.
            (4) All documents shall be text-searchable and machine-
        readable.
            (5) To the extent practicable, external websites shall be 
        able to link to documents on the system.
            (6) The system shall include digital audio and visual files 
        of court recordings, when such files are available.
            (7) The system shall provide search functions for public 
        use.
    (b) Minimizing the Burden on Pro Se Litigants.--In developing the 
system to comply with the requirements under subsection (a), the 
Director shall, to the extent practicable, not impose a 
disproportionate impact on pro se litigants.
    (c) Use of Technology.--In developing the system under subsection 
(a), the Director shall use modern technology in order--
            (1) to improve security, data accessibility, affordability, 
        and performance; and
            (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants.
    (d) Authority To Exempt Certain Documents.--The Director may 
identify categories of documents which are not made publicly accessible 
under subsection (a)(1), and categories of court proceedings, the 
recordings of which are not made available under subsection (a)(6).

SEC. 4. DEFINITION OF MACHINE-READABLE.

    In this Act, the term ``machine-readable'' means a format in which 
information or data can be easily processed by a computer without human 
intervention while ensuring no semantic meaning is lost.
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