AB 1758: Court records: fees.

Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules to establish standards and guidelines for the creation, maintenance, reproduction, and preservation of court records, to ensure the accuracy and preserve the integrity of the records, and ensure that the public can access and reproduce the records. Existing rules of court require that all records be made reasonably available to the public except those that are sealed by court order or made confidential by law.

This bill would require a court to make public court records that are maintained in an electronic format available to the public for inspection and copying at a courthouse during hours when the courthouse is open to the public. The bill bill, commencing January 1, 2025, would require a court to provide to the public remote access to all public court records about in civil cases, except as specified, including registers of actions, calendars, and indexes, that are maintained by the court in an electronic format, as specified. The bill would prohibit a court that provides the public with remote access to these records from charging a fee to search for, download, or copy public court records. The bill would authorize those records, except that a court would be authorized to charge a fee to a commercial user user, as defined, for viewing, searching, duplicating, downloading, or printing public court records in an electronic format. The bill would require the Judicial Council, by January 1, 2026, to develop a rule of court establishing authorize the Judicial Council to adopt statewide commercial user fees or a process for courts to use in developing commercial user fees.