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A Look Ahead

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ Advocates for Legislative Priorities as First Session of 116th Congress Enters Final Weeks

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ is advocating for several legislative priorities as the end of the first session of the 116th Congress quickly approaches, including urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to mark up the Electronic Court Records Reform Act, or ECRRA (/). The Southeastern Chapter of the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ (SEÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ) also sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in support of ECRRA.

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ is preparing for possible action on copyright issues, following a commitment earlier this year by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, to introduce legislation based on feedback gathered from a months-long working group established to discuss U.S. Copyright Office modernization. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ has concerns about proposals to make the Copyright Office independent of the Library of Congress because we believe it would ultimately weaken the Copyright Office and erect barriers to an effective, balanced copyright system. We are also monitoring the  to determine any potential impact on the privacy of library users and confidentiality of library records.

Congress has until December 20 to negotiate fiscal year 2020 funding bills, giving the House and Senate several more weeks to determine top-line spending allocations. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ continues to urge that any legislative branch appropriations agreement include as close to full funding as possible for the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO) and the Library of Congress/Law Library of Congress, which would allow, among other priorities, the continued digitization of historical Congressional and other public domain materials.

Changes Coming to the Washington eBulletin 

Starting in January 2020, the Washington eBulletin will shift to a biannual publication schedule, with more regular government relations updates moving to the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ eNewsletter and Weekly eNews. Chapter and SIS news, including news related to advocacy, may be submitted for publication in the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ eNewsletter’s Community Corner. Submissions should be sent to Heather Haemker at hhaemker@aall.org.

Roundup and Review

• ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ endorsed the nomination of to lead the GPO and to lead the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
• ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ and the American Library Association  to proposed updates to GPO’s regional depository library discard policy, which would alter the conditions under which tangible titles may be discarded.
• °Õ³ó±ðÌýU.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org Inc on December 2.  addresses the question of whether the government edicts doctrine extends to works that lack the force of law, such as the annotations in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA), and therefore cannot be copyrighted. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ signed on to an with other national library associations in the case. The  is available from the Supreme Court’s website, and the audio recording of the oral argument will be available on December 6.

A Look Ahead

Congress Debates Bills To Improve Access to Government Data and Information

With just a few weeks until the end of the first session of the 116th Congress, lawmakers and their staffs are working quickly on must-pass legislation–including funding proposals to keep the federal government open past Thanksgiving. Beyond the must-pass items, the House and Senate are also busy considering legislation on improving access to grant data and expanding freedom of information.

On October 21, the Senate voted unanimously in favor of the Grant Reporting Efficiency and Agreements Transparency (GREAT) Act (). The GREAT Act would modernize federal grant reporting and increase transparency by establishing searchable and machine-readable data standards for the information grantees must report to agencies. The bill would ease research on federal grant reporting by transforming disconnected documents into open data, as well as support greater oversight and accountability of the grant-making process. The GREAT Act passed the House of Representatives 422-0 in January. The bill will now return to the House for a vote on the changes made in the Senate.

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ is urging Senators to support the Open and Responsive Government Act (), which strengthens the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by ensuring continued access to information that has regularly been disclosed through FOIA but is now at risk of being hidden from public view. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ’s explains how the bill protects against efforts to weaken FOIA following a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media that expanded the scope of what is considered “confidential” information. The bill will prevent agencies from unnecessarily redacting information and reinforces FOIA’s presumption of openness and transparency.

Changes Coming to the Washington eBulletin 

Starting in January 2020, the Washington eBulletin will shift to a biannual publication schedule, with more regular government relations updates moving to the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ eNewsletter and Weekly eNews. Chapter and SIS news, including news related to advocacy, may be submitted for publication in the ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ eNewsletter’s Community Corner. Submissions should be sent to Heather Haemker at hhaemker@aall.org.

Roundup and Review

• ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ sent a  in support of the Electronic Court Records Reform Act (S. 2064) to modernize and provide free access to the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. The letter urges Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Ranking Member Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to support bringing the bill to the Senate floor as soon as possible.
• The White House Hugh Nathanial Halpern to be director of the Government Publishing Office. Mr. Halpern previously served as the director of floor operations in the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives before retiring in January 2019. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ looks forward to learning more about the nominee.

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.

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ appreciates 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. ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ submitted a  expressing the Association’s support for the Electronic Court Records Reform Act (/) that would modernize and provide free access to PACER.

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ is 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.

ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ in 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, ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ President 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 , the 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.