TO: Chief Justice Ronald M. George,Members of the Judicial Council

FROM: Charlene Hammitt, Manager; Jane Evans, Senior Business Systems Analyst

DATE: November 27, 2001

SUBJECT/ PURPOSE OF MEMO: Proposed Rules on Electronic Access to Court Records

CONTACT FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

NAME: Jane Evans

TEL: 415-865-7414

FAX: 415-865-7498

EMAIL: jane.evans@jud.ca.gov

QUESTION PRESENTED

Has the Judicial Council adopted relevant plans and policies?

JUSTICE IN THE BALANCE 2020
The long-term goals of the judicial branch in affording public access to electronic records were succinctly described in the Report of the Commission on the Future of the California Courts: Justice in the Balance 2020. That report envisions that by 2020, paper will have nearly vanished from the courts, and all pleadings and other documents will be transmitted, processed, and filed electronically (p. 101). It foresees that technology will make justice more efficient, more accessible, more understandable, and of higher quality, while at the same time unburdening judicial branch personnel of routine and mechanical tasks, freeing them to focus on the needs of court users (p. 101). The report acknowledges that public access to court records under the current system, which requires an individual to go to the courthouse, stand in line to request a case file that may or may not be in the courthouse, and search through the file page by page, in many cases has the practical result of giving only the legal community effective access to court-related information (p. 105). It argues that technology has the proven potential to provide more accessible, user-comprehensible justice, which is basic to the commission's vision of a preferred future for the courts (p. 105). With respect to the protection of privacy in court records that are accessible by the public electronically, the report suggests that by 2020, the information technology revolution will have changed notions of privacy fundamentally, but that the public debate about whether the Bill of Rights protects people in cyberspace will be a thing of the past, because the Supreme Court "will have reaffirmed every person's right to a legitimate expectation of privacy, in any medium" (p. 102).

JUDICIAL COUNCIL OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC PLANS
Both the Judicial Council Operational and Strategic Plans, Leading Justice Into the Future, in Goal VI, note that "[t]echnology will enhance the quality of justice by improving the ability of the judicial branch to collect, process, analyze, and share information and by increasing the public's access to information about the judicial branch." The Operational Plan, in Goal VI(f), proposes an E-government initiative to "Expand the ability of the California Courts, Serranus, and local trial court Web sites to provide information and services."

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR COURT TECHNOLOGY
The plan, approved by the Judicial Council August 14, 1998, in its Goal IV, calls to "Make justice system information more accessible through the use of common, well-understood technology."

TACTICAL PLAN FOR COURT TECHNOLOGY
The Tactical Plan, adopted by the Judicial Council January 26, 2000, provides the framework discussed elsewhere for the statewide initiatives to upgrade and enhance court information systems capabilities, including telecommunications architecture, the Service Bureau, and certification of case management systems as meeting California needs.

STANDARDS OF JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION, SECTION 38
Section 38, Access to Electronic Records, was adopted by the Judicial Council and became effective January 1, 1999. The standard has provided guidance to trial courts as they have begun small projects to provide public access to electronic records in limited case types. Feedback from courts on their project outcomes under Section 38 has informed the Court Technology Advisory Committee as it developed the proposed rules. Much of the language in Section 38 has been incorporated into the proposed rules, as the provisions, although only advisory in nature, have proved workable for both the courts and the public seeking access to electronic court information.