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AB-2962 Court records: fees.(2021-2022)

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Date Published: 06/30/2022 09:00 PM
AB2962:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  June 30, 2022
Amended  IN  Senate  June 13, 2022
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 04, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 2962

Introduced by Committee on Judiciary (Assembly Members Stone (Chair), Holden, Kalra, Maienschein, Reyes, and Robert Rivas)

March 08, 2022

An act to add Section 68511.3 to the Government Code, relating to courts.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 2962, as amended, Committee on Judiciary. Court records: fees.
Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules to establish standards and guidelines for the creation, maintenance, reproduction, and preservation of court records, to ensure the accuracy and preserve the integrity of the records, and ensure that the public can access and reproduce the records. Existing rules of court require that all records be made reasonably available to the public except those that are sealed by court order or made confidential by law.
This bill would require a court to make public court records that are maintained in an electronic format available to the public for inspection and copying at a courthouse during hours when the courthouse is open to the public. The bill would require a court to provide remote access to all public court records about civil cases, including registers of actions, calendars, and indexes, that are maintained by the court in an electronic format, as specified. The bill would prohibit a court that provides the public with remote access to these records from charging a fee to search for, download, or copy public court records. The bill would authorize a court to charge a fee to a commercial user for viewing, searching, duplicating, downloading, or printing public court records in an electronic format. The bill would require the Judicial Council, by January 1, 2025, to develop a rule of court establishing statewide commercial user fees or a process for courts to use in developing commercial user fees.

This bill would prohibit a court that makes public court records available in an electronic format by means of an internet website maintained by the court, or a third party on behalf of the court, from charging a fee that exceeds the court’s direct costs of duplication for users of the website to search for, download, or copy public court records. The bill would allow a court to charge a fee to a commercial user for viewing, searching, duplicating, downloading, or printing public court records in an electronic format. The bill would require the Judicial Council, by January 1, 2024, to develop a rule of court establishing statewide commercial user fees or a process for courts to use in developing commercial user fees.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 68511.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:

68511.3.
 (a) Unless otherwise prohibited by law, a court shall make information that constitutes a public court record public court records that are maintained in an electronic format available to a person the public, in either electronic or paper form, for inspection and copying at a courthouse during hours when the courthouse is open to the public. A court may charge a fee for copying public court records pursuant to Section 70627.

(b)Except as provided in subdivision (e), a court that makes public court records available in an electronic format by means of an internet website maintained by the court, or a third party on behalf of the court, shall not charge a fee that exceeds the court’s direct costs of duplication for users of the website to search for, download, or copy public court records.

(c)Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a court to do either of the following:

(1)Create, post, or reconstruct a record in an electronic format.

(2)Release an electronic record if its release would jeopardize or compromise the security or integrity of the original record or of any proprietary software in which it is maintained.

(d)Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit public access to court records that have been sealed by court order or that are confidential by law.

(e)

(b) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), a court shall provide remote access to all public court records about civil cases, including registers of actions as defined in Section 69845, calendars, and indexes, that are maintained by the court in an electronic format. A court may provide the public with remote access to the records by means that include, but are not limited to, an internet website maintained by the court, or a third party on behalf of the court.
(2) A court is not required to provide remote access to the records described in paragraph (1) in either of the following circumstances:
(A) It is not reasonably feasible for the court to make the records available by remote means because the court lacks either the resources or the technical capacity to do so.
(B) The record is about one of the types of civil cases listed in the California Rules of Court as a type of civil case to which a court may not provide remote access.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), a court that provides the public with remote access to the records described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) shall not charge a fee to search for, download, or copy public court records.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), (c), a court may charge a fee to a commercial user for viewing, searching, duplicating, downloading, or printing public court records in an electronic format. The Judicial Council shall, by January 1, 2024, 2025, develop a rule of court establishing statewide commercial user fees or a process for courts to use in developing commercial user fees.

(f)

(e) As used in this section:
(1) (A) “Commercial user” means a person or entity, or any person acting on behalf of an entity, that has viewed, downloaded, or printed at least 100 individual electronic court records during a 12-month period. Entities formally organized as nonprofit corporations, including, but not limited to, nonprofit organizations providing legal services to the persons whose records are obtained, are not commercial users. period for commercial purposes.
(B) None of the following shall be considered to be a “commercial user”:
(i) An entity formally organized as a nonprofit corporation, including, but not limited to, a nonprofit organization providing legal services to the persons whose records are obtained.
(ii) An attorney or law firm that obtains a record about a client.
(iii) A person who attests that the records are needed for a scholarly, journalistic, political, or government use.
(2) “Court record” has the same meaning as in subdivision (a) of Section 68151.

(3)“Direct costs of duplication” means the actual cost of producing a copy of a record in an electronic format and does not include any ancillary costs, including, but not limited to, the cost of personnel time or database development or maintenance.

(4)

(3) “Public court record” means a court record that is not sealed by court order, made exempt from remote public access under the California Rules of Court, or otherwise confidential by law.