1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to courts; requiring forms prepared by the 
  1.3             Supreme Court to be made available in electronic 
  1.4             format to the public on a remote access basis; 
  1.5             requiring that court submissions in civil and criminal 
  1.6             cases be submitted to the court in electronic format; 
  1.7             requiring the state court administrator to develop a 
  1.8             publicly accessible database to store electronic 
  1.9             submissions to the court; appropriating money; 
  1.10            proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
  1.11            chapter 480. 
  1.12  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.13     Section 1.  [480.0512] [FORMS TO BE MADE AVAILABLE IN 
  1.14  ELECTRONIC FORMAT.] 
  1.15     The Supreme Court must make all court practice forms 
  1.16  available to the public in electronic format and accessible by 
  1.17  remote access.  The Supreme Court shall promulgate or amend 
  1.18  existing rules of court and practice to implement this section. 
  1.19     <b>[EFFECTIVE DATE.]</b> This section is effective January 1, 2005.
  1.20     Sec. 2.  [480.0513] [PAPERS TO BE SUBMITTED IN ELECTRONIC 
  1.21  FORMAT.] 
  1.22     Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITIONS.] (a) The definitions in this 
  1.23  subdivision apply to this section. 
  1.24     (b) "Attorney" means an attorney at law admitted to 
  1.25  practice law in this state. 
  1.26     (c) "Document" means a document that is required or 
  1.27  permitted to be filed with a court concerning a civil or 
  1.28  criminal action that is to be commenced or is pending before the 
  2.1   court. 
  2.2      Subd. 2.  [REQUIREMENT.] (a) Except as provided in 
  2.3   subdivision 3, a document submitted by an attorney to a court of 
  2.4   this state must be submitted in electronic format.  This 
  2.5   requirement is in addition to any other filing requirements 
  2.6   established by statute or rule. 
  2.7      (b) A court may not refuse a document solely because the 
  2.8   document was not submitted in electronic format. 
  2.9      Subd. 3.  [EXCEPTIONS.] Subdivision 2 does not apply to: 
  2.10     (1) a photograph; 
  2.11     (2) an original document that was prepared or printed 
  2.12  before July 1, 2005; 
  2.13     (3) a document that was not created at the direction or 
  2.14  under the control of the submitting attorney; or 
  2.15     (4) a document that is sealed at the direction of the court.
  2.16     Subd. 4.  [DATABASE.] The Supreme Court shall develop or 
  2.17  purchase software to manage documents submitted in electronic 
  2.18  format.  The database must be indexed, easily searchable, 
  2.19  accessible by adaptive speech software, and made available to 
  2.20  the public on a remote access basis without charge. 
  2.21     Subd. 5.  [RULES.] The Supreme Court shall promulgate or 
  2.22  amend existing rules of court and practice to implement this 
  2.23  section. 
  2.24     <b>[EFFECTIVE DATE.]</b> This section is effective July 1, 2005. 
  2.25     Sec. 3.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  2.26     $....... in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2005, is 
  2.27  appropriated from the general fund to the state court 
  2.28  administrator to be used to implement sections 1 and 2.