Open Courts Act of 2020
This bill requires the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to establish a single electronic system for all public court records that is publicly accessible for free. Under the existing Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system, users are charged fees for accessing court documents.
To fund the development of the new consolidated system, the Judicial Conference must temporarily establish a schedule of additional fees for persons that are higher-volume users of PACER.
To fund the operations of the new system, the Judicial Conference shall collect an annual fee from the Department of Justice based on the amount of PACER fees paid by the department in 2018. The Judicial Conference may also establish reasonable filing fees based on specified factors, including the extent of a person's use and the interests of justice.