Judiciary approves PACER fee increase to modernize case management, public access
The federal judiciary approved a temporary fee increase to fund an estimated $800 million initiative to improve modernization of its electronic case records and case management system beginning Jan. 1, 2027. (Image from Shutterstock)
The federal judiciary approved a temporary fee increase to fund an estimated $800 million initiative to improve modernization of its electronic case records and case management system beginning Jan. 1, 2027.
The Judicial Conference of the United States’ Executive Committee raised the fee for Public Access to Court Electronic Records, or PACER, by two cents per page, from 10 cents to 12 cents.
The automatic exemption costs for PACER went from $30 to $40 per quarter. PACER fees generate $147 million per year. The increase will be used to reimburse the costs of developing a new case management system, which runs the judiciary’s intake and processing of court records and allows public access to court records, according to a June 26 news release by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Cybersecurity concerns accelerated the initiative’s timeline, which will replace an outdated Case Management/Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) system with a more modern and secure system. The fee increase will remain in place for five years.
“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,” said North Carolina Judge Robert J. Conrad Jr., the director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts and the secretary of the Judicial Conference, in the news release.
Law360 also had coverage.
See also:
Senators introduce bill to increase access to federal court records
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