Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) might soon be free for most users.
A United States Senate Bill that would remove the cost of PACER document access for small users passed the US Senate Judicial Committee Dec. 9.
The Open Courts Act of 2021 would place the cost of running PACER on accounts who accrue more than $25,000 in fees every quarter, and on federal agencies at the rate of the fees paid by those agencies in 2018, adjusted for inflation.
“Big firms have no problem, but these fees may be too expensive for individuals, small businesses, small law firms and nonprofits to track litigation that impacts them, and for some low-income individuals, the cost of accessing records can be so high that it may prevent them from going forward with a meritorious lawsuit,” said Dick Durbin, Judicial Committee chair and bill cosponsor.
The bill would still need to pass both houses of Congress, and be signed by the president, before it takes effect, but it enjoys wide support.
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the bill, which has 14 cosponsors, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ).
