Rule 8.83. Public access

(a) General right of access All electronic records must be made reasonably available to the public in some form, whether in electronic or in paper form, except sealed or confidential records.

(b) Electronic access required to extent feasible

(1) Electronic access, both remote and at the courthouse, will be provided to the following court records, except sealed or confidential records, to the extent it is feasible to do so:

(A) Dockets or registers of actions;

(B) Calendars;

(C) Opinions; and

(D) The following Supreme Court records:

**** i. Results from the most recent Supreme Court weekly conference;

**** ii. Party briefs in cases argued in the Supreme Court for at least the preceding three years;

**** iii. Supreme Court minutes from at least the preceding three years.

(2) If a court maintains records in civil cases in addition to those listed in (1) in electronic form, electronic access to these records, except those listed in (c), must be provided both remotely and at the courthouse, to the extent it is feasible to do so.

(c) Courthouse electronic access only If a court maintains the following records in electronic form, electronic access to these records must be provided at the courthouse, to the extent it is feasible to do so, but remote electronic access may not be provided to these records:

(1) Any reporter’s transcript for which the reporter is entitled to receive a fee; and

(2) Records other than those listed in (b)(1) in the following proceedings:

(A) Proceedings under the Family Code, including proceedings for dissolution, legal separation, and nullity of marriage; child and spousal support proceedings; child custody proceedings; and domestic violence prevention proceedings;

(B) Juvenile court proceedings;

(C) Guardianship or conservatorship proceedings;

(D) Mental health proceedings;

(E) Criminal proceedings;

(F) Civil harassment proceedings under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.6;

(G) Workplace violence prevention proceedings under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.8;

(H) Private postsecondary school violence prevention proceedings under Code of Civil Procedure section 527.85;

(I) Elder or dependent adult abuse prevention proceedings under Welfare and Institutions Code section 15657.03; and

(J) Proceedings to compromise the claims of a minor or a person with a disability.

(d) Remote electronic access allowed in extraordinary cases Notwithstanding (c)(2), the presiding justice of the court, or a justice assigned by the presiding justice, may exercise discretion, subject to (d)(1), to permit remote electronic access by the public to all or a portion of the public court records in an individual case if (1) the number of requests for access to documents in the case is extraordinarily high and (2) responding to those requests would significantly burden the operations of the court. An individualized determination must be made in each case in which such remote electronic access is provided.

(1) In exercising discretion under (d), the justice should consider the relevant factors, such as:

(A) The privacy interests of parties, victims, witnesses, and court personnel, and the ability of the court to redact sensitive personal information;

(B) The benefits to and burdens on the parties in allowing remote electronic access; and

(C) The burdens on the court in responding to an extraordinarily high number of requests for access to documents.

(2) The following information must be redacted from records to which the court allows remote access under (d): driver’s license numbers; dates of birth; social security numbers; Criminal Identification and Information and National Crime Information numbers; addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of parties, victims, witnesses, and court personnel; medical or psychiatric information; financial information; account numbers; and other personal identifying information. The court may order any party who files a document containing such information to provide the court with both an original unredacted version of the document for filing in the court file and a redacted version of the document for remote electronic access. No juror names or other juror identifying information may be provided by remote electronic access. Subdivision (d)(2) does not apply to any document in the original court file; it applies only to documents that are made available by remote electronic access.

(3) Five days’ notice must be provided to the parties and the public before the court makes a determination to provide remote electronic access under this rule. Notice to the public may be accomplished by posting notice on the court’s website. Any person may file comments with the court for consideration, but no hearing is required.

(4) The court’s order permitting remote electronic access must specify which court records will be available by remote electronic access and what categories of information are to be redacted. The court is not required to make findings of fact. The court’s order must be posted on the court’s website and a copy sent to the Judicial Council.

(e) Access only on a case-by-case basis With the exception of the records covered by (b)(1), electronic access to an electronic record may be granted only when the record is identified by the number of the case, the caption of the case, the name of a party, the name of the attorney, or the date of oral argument, and only on a case-by-case basis.

(f) Bulk distribution Bulk distribution may be provided only of the records covered by (b)(1).

(g) Records that become inaccessible If an electronic record to which electronic access has been provided is made inaccessible to the public by court order or by operation of law, the court is not required to take action with respect to any copy of the record that was made by a member of the public before the record became inaccessible.