It will soon cost more to access federal court records.
The fee to use the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system is going up by two cents per page, from 10 cents to 12 cents, starting Jan. 1, according to the Judicial Conference Executive Committee.
PACER is an online portal that provides the public with electronic access to case information and filings from district, appellate and bankruptcy courts across the U.S.
It’s all part of an ongoing project to develop a new case management system to replace the current outdated database.
Judge Robert Conrad Jr., director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, called the increase a “last resort.”
“Unfortunately, without a modest increase in fees, we will not be able to collect enough money to cover the costs of delivering the case management system that the federal courts must have to continue to operate securely,” the judge said.
Next year’s bump is the first in nearly 15 years and will be effective for five years.
While the federal judiciary is also raising the automatic exemption fees up to $40 per quarter, some lawmakers want to make the entire system free to users.
Sens. John Kennedy (R-La.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have introduced a bill that calls for the creation of a modern, centralized replacement for PACER that removes the paywall for viewing, downloading or printing a document.
“Americans should not have to sell plasma or wrestle with clunky government websites just to read public court records,” Kennedy previously said.
