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A Look Ahead

Congress Considers Legislation to Improve Access to Legal Information 

Members of Congress returned to their states and districts for a two-week recess after a particularly busy three weeks in session. Before lawmakers left Washington, the House and Senate passed a continuing resolution () to fund the federal government through November 21, avoiding a government shutdown that would have occurred on September 30. The Senate also passed several fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriations bills, including a legislative branch appropriations bill () to fund the Government Publishing Office at its requested level of $117 million and the Library of Congress at $735.8 million, $39.7 million above the FY 2019 enacted level.

Just before the Congressional break, the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Courts held a hearing titled, “.” The hearing focused on sealed court filings, audio and visual access to court proceedings, and the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. The Judicial Conference of the United States was represented by Audrey Fleissig, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri and chair of the Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management, and Judge Richard Story, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia and a member of the Judicial Conference’s Committee on the Judicial Branch.

In her , Judge Fleissig raised concerns about proposed legislative changes to PACER’s fee structure. She stated that while the Judiciary is committed to openness and public access, proposed legislation would place an unfair burden on litigants by exponentially increasing filing fees to support the case management and public access systems which cost more than $100 million to operate.1Ìý

Seamus Hughes, Deputy Director of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University and author of a recent piece in Politico Magazine titled “,” testified about problems with PACER, including usability barriers for research and journalism. Hughes offered examples that illustrated both the day-to-day frustrations of users and the broader policy and technical issues that hamper the system and offered solutions including making PACER free, setting a uniform system for documents filed in the system, and requiring documents be text-searchable.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵappreciates the Judiciary’s recent actions to establish an and for PACER users from $15.00 to $30.00. We also believe that more needs to be done to increase access to court records because PACER has not kept up with its promise to provide the public with affordable electronic access to court information. Today, PACER is cumbersome, inefficient, and outdated. The system erects barriers to equitable access to information and inhibits access to justice. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵsubmitted a  expressing the Association’s support for the Electronic Court Records Reform Act (/) that would modernize and provide free access to PACER.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵis also tracking several other bills related to access to legal and government information, including the Open and Responsive Government Act of 2019 () to improve the Freedom of Information Act; the OLC Sunlight Act to provide greater access to Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinions; the Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports Act (/) to direct the Government Publishing Office to make reports available for public access and bulk download; and the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency Act of 2019 (/) to require the use of open data and increase transparency of federal grant recipient reporting. The latter two bills have already passed the House and await action in the Senate.

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1.ÌýSome members of Congress and technology experts have questioned PACER’s operating costs given the average costs associated with modern data storage and record retrieval systems. One recent  calculated the total yearly expenses for storing and serving PACER’s data at just over $200,000. Issues related to the costs of PACER and CM/ECF are being considered in National Veterans Legal Services Program et al v. United States of America, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is considering whether the government is violating the E-Government Act of 2002 by charging fees to access court documents that exceed the marginal cost of providing documents on PACER.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵin the States

UELMA Updates

On September 17, Law Librarians of New England (LLNE) Immediate Past President Catherine Biondo testified in support of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) in Massachusetts before the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Read more on the .

In addition, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵPresident Michelle Cosby sent a reiterating the Association’s support for UELMA.

Roundup and Review

On October 1, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit  in part the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC)  that repealed the net neutrality protections under the 2015 Open Internet Order in the case Mozilla v. FCC. The court also ruled that the FCC cannot prevent states from enacting their own net neutrality laws or other broadband regulations. The decision underscores the need for the Senate to (), which enacts critical net neutrality protections. The Save the Internet Act would ensure law libraries can continue to meet their crucial missions to provide users with equitable access to up-to-date online legal information.

A Look Ahead

Congress Must Pass Agency Funding Bill or Risk Government Shutdown

Members of Congress return to Washington next week with a full agenda, including completing the 12 appropriations bills before the start of the new fiscal year. If the bills aren’t finished before the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, the federal government will once again shut down.

The House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2020 legislative branch appropriations bill in May. The bill provides the Government Publishing Office (GPO) with the requested $117 million, which will support the Federal Depository Library Program and the continued development of govinfo. The Library of Congress received $720 million, an increase of $24 million, including the Copyright Office, Congressional Research Service, Law Library of Congress, and National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. In its ,Ìýthe House Appropriations Committee urged the Law Library “to continue its digitization strategy as party of the Library’s overall digitization strategy to increase online access to major parts of its collection, such as the U.S. Serial Sets [sic] and Supreme Court Records and Briefs.”

The Law Library of Congress’ projects to digitize public domain U.S. legal and legislative materials would be of significant benefit to law libraries, which will be able to provide free access to these collections through the Law Library’s website once digitization is complete. In addition, GPO is contributing to building a corpus of digitized historical material, most recently completing the digitization of the Federal Register back to 1936 and the bound Congressional Record back to 1873.

Despite the White House’s repeated calls to shutter the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Legal Services Corporation (LSC), the House has approved significant increases in funding for these agencies. In June, the House approved $267 million for IMLS in a four-bill appropriations package (), an increase of $25 million above the 2019 enacted level. The House also passed $550 million for the LSC in a separate appropriations package (), an increase of $135 million above fiscal year 2019, to help increase the availability of legal assistance in underserved communities.

The Senate has not yet scheduled any appropriations bill markups. Before the recess, the Senate cleared legislation to set topline spending levels for the next two fiscal years and suspend the debt limit through July 2021. That means the House and Senate may have to reconcile funding levels and must act quickly to complete the appropriations bills before funding runs out on September 30.

A Look Ahead

August Recess Begins

With members of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate back in their states and districts for the August Congressional recess, now is the perfect time to invite your legislators to your law library; attend town halls or breakfast meetings hosted by your members of Congress; or visit your members’ district offices to educate them about your law library and promote AALL’s legislative priorities–including cosponsoring the Electronic Court Records Reform Act (/), supporting full funding for the Library of Congress and the Law Library of Congress, and supporting the Senate version of the Save the Internet Act (). °Õ³ó±ðÌý provides tips for making these in-district connections. Contact Emily Feltren, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵdirector of government relations, for assistance setting up visits and meetings.

In-person meetings are key to effective advocacy, but online connections matter, too. You can take action right now on AALL’s legislative priorities through the .

Senate Judiciary Committee Leaders Look to Modernize Copyright Office

Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, announced in an and during an of the U.S. Copyright Office in July that his Subcommittee is establishing a “bipartisan, bicameral working group that will meet regularly with copyright stakeholders to discuss Copyright Office modernization” through roundtables and “introduce legislation based on this feedback by the end of the year.” Sen. Tillis said during his opening statement at the July 30 oversight hearing that he thinks the Copyright Office “may not have the necessary autonomy and authority” to quickly modernize.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵsupports efforts to modernize the Copyright Office, . However, we to give the Copyright Office more “autonomy” by moving it out of the Library of Congress, as past in the last Congress. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵwill continue to monitor proposed changes and engage with the Library of Congress, Copyright Office, and Congress as a copyright stakeholder.

A Look Ahead

National Archives Responds to Concerns About Obama Presidential Library

In June, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) hosted a meeting between NARA leadership and nongovernmental organizations interested in access to government information, including AALL. In advance of the meeting, ³ÉÈËÊÓƵrequested that an update about the Obama Presidential Library be included on the agenda to address about the Obama Foundation’s plans for an all-digital library. NARA had previously  that, “The Obama Foundation, a private entity, made the decision not to construct a Presidential Library for NARA to house the textual and audiovisual records and artifacts. Instead it will provide funding for the digitization of records so they can be made available online.”

Donius provided assurances that the digitization of President Barack Obama’s records by a private contractor for the Obama Foundation will be required to meet all NARA standards and will be ingested with metadata into NARA’s searchable Electronic Records Archives. Donius also reiterated that NARA takes seriously the need to make presidential archivists and librarians available to assist users with the digital material.

³ÉÈËÊÓƵwill continue to track plans for the Obama Presidential Library and update members on further developments.

Act Now

A Look Ahead

³ÉÈËÊÓƵSupports Greater Access to Office of Legal Counsel Opinions

³ÉÈËÊÓƵjoined a coalition of organizations on a letter to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees asking them to include language in their Fiscal Year (FY) 2020 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) appropriations bills to require the Department of Justice to provide a list of the titles, authors, and dates of issuance of all final Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinions.

OLC is tasked with providing authoritative legal advice to the president, the Attorney General, and other executive branch agencies. However, the executive branch often withholds from Congress and the public even the most basic information about their reports, such as when and to whom they are issued, the subject of their analyses, and even how many are currently in effect. This hinders Congressional oversight as well as public knowledge of the OLC’s work.

Due to national security and privacy concerns, not all OLC opinions can or should be released to the public without any redactions. However, other government agencies with similar national security and privacy requirements have found workable solutions to provide information about their reports. For example, the Department of Defense Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office release information, such as a report title or report number, in cases when some or all of a report’s contents must remain nonpublic.

While the House Appropriations Committee marked up its FY 2020 CJS bill on May 22, the Senate Appropriations Committee has not yet marked up its bill. We urge the Committee to require the Department of Justice to begin reporting a list of all final opinions.

Act Now

Submitted by John Edwards and Lynn Murray

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act (UELMA) on May 8. ³ÉÈËÊÓƵMembers Karen Wallace, Rebecca Lutkenhaus, and John Edwards were instrumental in the enactment. They worked with Drake’s Legislative Practice Center, Commissioner David Walker (Drake Emeriti Law Professor), Representative Jon Jacobsen, and others. The advocates .

In Texas, thanks to the tireless efforts of ³ÉÈËÊÓƵpast president Barbara Bintliff, Governor Greg Abbott signed UELMA on May 24. For three legislative sessions, Barbara recruited legislative sponsors, and she provided testimony about the importance of UELMA at committee hearings. One story she shares from the 2017 legislative session relates how she won over the Secretary of State causing him to drop his opposition mere minutes before their testimony at one committee hearing. Barbara was assisted by the legislative clinic at UT, and she enjoyed the universal backing of library associations, both law and non-law, who all endorsed the adoption of UELMA.

UELMA has been enacted in 21 states and the District of Columbia.

GPLLA Volunteers with Books through Bars

Submitted by Janet Peros

On Saturday, May 18th, a Greater Philadelphia Law Library Association (GPLLA) contingent volunteered at Books Through Bars in Philadelphia selecting books requested and packaging books to send to incarcerated individuals in PA and neighboring states after a brief orientation.

Those that attended felt it was a rewarding experience and we are hoping to make this a regular/ongoing event (every few months) so that others in our chapter might also get involved.