Andy Barr: “Let me first just acknowledge the well- intentioned goals of this legislation and my colleagues from Georgia in a…”

“Let me first just acknowledge the well- intentioned goals of this legislation and my colleagues from Georgia in a bipartisan way working together. I applaud their efforts to attempt to modernize the judicial branch and make judicial records more accessible to the American people. Nevertheless, I regrettably rise with reservations, as a former practitioner in Federal court, regarding H.R. 8235, the Open Courts Act of 2020. According to the Judicial Conference of the United States, the bill, as drafted, would have devastating budgetary and operational impacts on the judiciary's ability to serve the public. Current estimates for the cost of the bill from the Judicial Conference are currently $2 billion apart from the Congressional Budget Office's preliminary estimates of the cost to develop and implement a new electronic filing and public access system. Should these cost estimates be correct, there is no scenario in which the revenue generated by the bill would cover costs, forcing the judiciary to slash funding for staff and other critical operations. This bill has a $2 billion price tag, and the entire budget of the Federal judiciary is only $8 billion, annually. Additionally, despite the bill's cap on increases to filing fees, it authorizes the judiciary to raise filing fees if the other revenue sources in the bill prove insufficient to cover costs. I know my colleagues do not want to deny access to the Federal courts.…”