A new bill before the U.S House of Representatives would prohibit the federal courts from charging for public documents. The Electronic Court Records Reform Act would require that documents downloaded from the PACER database be free. Currently, the repository for federal court documents charges up to 10 cents a page.
“Americans deserve a justice system that is transparent and accessible,” said Republican Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia, the bill’s sponsor, in a statement on Sept. 6. “I introduced the Electronic Court Records Reform Act to modernize the judicial records systems and remove fee-for-access barriers that technology has rendered unnecessary.”
