Modernization of electronic Federal court records systems

(a) Consolidation (1) Definitions (A) Covered court In this subsection, the term covered court — (i) means— (I) any Federal court in the judicial branch of the United States Government; and (II) any Federal Court whose records are accessible via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records service on the date of enactment of this Act; and (ii) does not include— (I) the Supreme Court of the United States; (II) the court established under section 502 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1532); (III) the court established under section 103(a) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(a)); or (IV) the court established under section 103(b) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1803(b)). (B) Covered record The term covered record includes— (i) all dockets of a covered court; (ii) all documents filed in a covered court, either by paper or electronically, and reflected in a docket of a covered court; (iii) all orders and opinions filed in a docket of a covered court; (iv) all audio recordings filed in a docket of a covered court; and (v) any other record identified by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts whose publication in the system created by this Act would serve to help the public better understand the functioning of the courts. (2) Consolidation Not later than the date specified in subsection (f), the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, shall develop, deliver, operate, and sustain, consistent with the requirements of this Act, a centralized system with a separate public interface. In carrying out these responsibilities, the Director may consult with the Administrator of General Services. (3) Rule of construction Nothing in this subsection may be construed to prohibit Federal courts that are not covered courts from adopting the code created for the system described under paragraph (2). (b) Requirements of system The system described under subsection (a) shall comply with the following requirements: (1) The system shall provide search, bulk access, and application programming interface functions for content and metadata. In carrying out these responsibilities, the Director may consult with the Administrator of General Services. (2) The system shall make covered records automatically accessible, in accordance with the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note), to the public upon filing, or in the case of previously sealed records, after unsealing. (3) The home page for public access to the system shall include a notice displayed to first-time visitors, as determined through a mechanism that does not require registration or impose a fee, that users will not use the system for an unlawful purpose. Access to documents through other means, including under paragraph (6), may not be conditioned upon acknowledging such notice. (4) Any information published pursuant to paragraph (4), (5), or (6) of section 205(a) or section 205(c)(1) of the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) shall be included in the system or linked to prominently. (5) Any information published pursuant to any provision of section 205 of the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note) not described in paragraph (4) shall be accessible via links from the system. Each website established pursuant to that section shall contain a link to the system. (6) Any website for the system shall substantially comply with the requirements under subsections (b) and (c) of section 205 of the E-Government Act of 2002 (44 U.S.C. 3501 note). (7) The system shall enable external websites to be able to link to documents on the system via permanent, predictable URLs. The system shall not unduly restrict automated tools from accessing, indexing, and archiving such documents. (8) The system may enable courts to automatically generate and submit, in a computer-readable format, the reports required by sections 2519(1) and 3103a(d)(1) of title 18, United States Code. (9) The system shall at all times comply with the Judiciary Information Security Framework. (10) For bankruptcy notices provided in accordance with the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, the system may provide bankruptcy notices electronically. (11) The system shall create a machine-readable neutral citation for all orders, opinions, and decisions made available through the system. The citations shall take the format of the year of the filing of the document, an abbreviated court name, and a serial number for the document. (12) The system shall enable users to receive automatic notifications of new covered records in specific cases or cases that match particular search criteria, using industry-standard notification technologies identified by the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts. (13) Consistent with the best practices outlined in OMB Memorandum M–16–21 or a successor document, the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts may enable other Federal, state and territorial, local and tribal government entities, and nonprofit organizations supporting those entities, to access and reuse the code for the system. It should be taken into consideration that contracts related to the development of custom code acquire and enforce rights sufficient to enable reuse of that custom-developed code. (c) Development standards The system described under subsection (a) shall be developed with the following principles: (1) User-centered design, including— (A) research with end users of the system such as users within the judiciary, attorney and pro se filers, the media, academic researchers, and the public; and (B) product development practices such as formal and continuous feedback loops and a publicly available backlog. (2) Modern software development such as frequent deployments, short cycle times, and integrated development, security, and operations. (3) Modern, flexible, and open-source software architecture focused on enabling future changes, data portability, software modularity and maintainability, and the use of application programming interfaces to enable public access to data. (d) Data standards (1) Establishment of data standards The Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall establish data standards for the system established under subsection (a). In carrying out these responsibilities, the Director may consult with the Administrator of General Services and the Archivist of the United States. (2) Requirements The data standards established under paragraph (1) shall, to the extent reasonable and practicable— (A) incorporate widely accepted common data elements; (B) incorporate a widely accepted, nonproprietary, full text searchable, platform-independent computer-readable format; and (C) be capable of being continually upgraded as necessary. (3) Deadlines Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall issue guidance to all covered courts, as defined in subsection (a), on the data standards established under this subsection. (e) Use of technology In carrying out the duties under subsection (a), the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall use modern technology— (1) to improve security, data accessibility, data quality, affordability, and performance; and (2) to minimize the burden on pro se litigants. (f) Date specified The date specified in this subsection is the date that is 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, unless the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts certifies to Congress, by not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, that an additional period of time is required. If the Director so certifies, the date specified in this subsection is the date that is 6 years after the date of enactment of this Act.