Funds for development, operation, and maintenance of modernized court records system

(a) Short term increased access fees for high-Volume users To fund the development of the modernized court records system (1) In general Section 303 of the Judiciary Appropriations Act, 1992 (title III of Public Law 102–140; 105 Stat. 807) (28 U.S.C. 1913 note) is amended— (A) in subsection (a)— (i) in the first sentence, by striking (a) The and inserting (a) (1) The; and (ii) by adding at the end the following: (2) Not later than 210 days after the date of enactment of the Open Courts Act of 2026, the Judicial Conference shall prescribe, after providing public notice and an opportunity for public comment, a schedule of additional fees for any person other than a government agency that accrues such fees for access in an amount of $25,000 or greater in any quarter or uses bulk-access functions. All fees collected under the preceding sentence shall be deposited as offsetting collections to the Judiciary Information Technology Fund pursuant to section 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United States Code.; and (B) in subsection (b), in the second sentence, by striking All and inserting Except as otherwise provided in this section, all. (2) Effective date The amendments made by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. (b) Long term funding for the operation and maintenance of the modernized court records system and other public access programs (1) In general Section 303 of the Judiciary Appropriations Act, 1992 (title III of Public Law 102–140; 105 Stat. 807) (28 U.S.C. 1913 note), as amended by subsection (a)(1) of this section, is amended by striking subsections (a) and (b) and inserting the following: (a) In this section— (1) the term annual covered costs means for each fiscal year, the total of— (A) the cost of operating and maintaining the system described under section 2 of the Open Courts Act of 2026; and (B) the covered public access program costs; (2) the term covered public access program costs means the portion of the Public Access to Court Electronic Records access fees used by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts for other public access programs, in the full fiscal year preceding the date of enactment of the Open Courts Act of 2026, as adjusted for inflation; and (b) To generate revenue to offset the annual covered costs, the Director of the Administrative Office of the United States Courts shall collect an annual fee from Federal agencies equal to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records access fees paid by those agencies in the full fiscal year preceding the date of enactment of the Open Courts Act of 2026, as adjusted for inflation. (c) If the revenue generated in the first full fiscal year after the implementation of the fees under subsection (b) is not sufficient to offset the annual covered costs, the Judicial Conference shall, after providing public notice and an opportunity for public comment, prescribe schedules of reasonable filing fees, pursuant to sections 1913, 1914, 1926, 1930, and 1932 of title 28, United States Code, that— (1) shall be based on factors to ensure that such schedules are graduated, including the cause of action and claim for relief, the status of the filer in the action and the financial hardship an additional fee would place on the filer, the amount of damages demanded, the estimated complexity of the type of action, and the interests of justice; (2) may be prescribed for the filing of a counterclaim; (3) shall not apply to a filer (other than a filer who is required by Federal law to pay filing fees, including under section 1915 of title 28, United States Code) who certifies that their adjusted gross income was less than $250,000, adjusted for inflation, based on their total income from the previous calendar year; (4) shall not be a basis for denying access to the courts of the United States; and (5) a court, upon motion, may waive in the interest of justice. (d) All fees collected under this section shall be deposited as offsetting collections to the Judiciary Information Technology Fund pursuant to section 612(c)(1)(A) of title 28, United States Code, and may only be used to reimburse expenses incurred carrying out the Open Courts Act of 2026, for other public access programs (not to exceed the amount of covered public access program costs), and not for any other purpose. (e) The Judicial Conference and the Director shall transmit each schedule of fees prescribed under this section to Congress at least 90 days before the schedule becomes effective. The Judicial Conference shall review a schedule of fees prescribed under this section 3 years after the schedule becomes effective and every 3 years thereafter to ensure that the fees meet the requirements of this subsection. If the fees do not meet the requirements of this subsection, the Judicial Conference shall prescribe a new schedule of fees pursuant to this subsection and submit the new schedule of fees to Congress. (f) If at the end of a fiscal year, the Judiciary Information Technology Fund contains more than $50,000,000 in funds that have not already been obligated to be spent in the next fiscal year, generated through the fees prescribed under this subsection— (1) all excess funds over $50,000,000 shall be transferred to the general fund of the Treasury; (2) notice of this fact and the amount transferred to the Treasury shall be published on the public website of the Administrative Office of United States Courts; and (3) the Judicial Conference shall within 210 days review the fee schedule to reduce the excess revenue generated. (g) (1) No fees may be charged to access any functionality of the system created under section 2 of the Open Courts Act of 2026. (2) Nothing in paragraph (1) may be construed to prohibit the collection of fees from agencies under subsection (a).. (2) Effective date The amendment made by paragraph (1) shall take effect on the date specified in section 2(f).