BRB's Public Records Blog

Pending New Jersey Bill Will Increase Many Court Fees

NJ Bill A763 was passed by the NJ State Assembly and now is making its way to the State Senate. In general, the bill contains fee increases that include (but are not limited to) the fee to file motions (papers) in the courts; the recording of judgments or orders in the Special Civil Part; the fee to affix a seal, or certify a copy or for an exemplification; and the fee to file a lien. The bill also authorizes the Judiciary to fund a statewide digital e-court information system which would include public access to digital court records. Indication from the bill's primary sponsor is the Senate and the Governor both favor the bill's current language. If and when signed, the new law would take affect July 1, 2012.

For more information, visit the state's legislative site at www.njleg.state.nj.us/ and search for bill number A763.

Free Driver License Status Checks

Motor vehicle records (driving records, title, registration, accident reports, etc.) are not public when the records contain personal information. A requester must have a permissible use per both federal and state law. However, some states do provide some useful records online, without personal identifiers, at no charge. The selected list below for a free search of a DL status is taken from The MVR Access and Decoder Digest.

Florida - https://services.flhsmv.gov/DLCheck/

Idaho - https://www.accessidaho.org/secure/itd/reinstatement/index.html

Kansas - https://www.kdor.org/DLStatus/login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fdlstatus%2fsecure%2fdefault.aspx

Massachusetts - https://secure.rmv.state.ma.us/LicInquiry/intro.aspx

Minnesota - https://dutchelm.dps.state.mn.us/dvsinfo/mainframepublic.asp

Nebraska - https://www.nebraska.gov/dmv/reinstatements/client.cgi

North Dakota - https://secure.apps.state.nd.us/dot/dlts/dlos/requeststatus.htm

Ohio - www.ohiobmv.com/abstract.stm

South Carolina - https://www.scdmvonline.com/DMVpublic/trans/DRecPoints.aspx

Washington - https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/dolprod/dsdDriverStatusDisplay/

West Virginia - http://www.transportation.wv.gov/dmv/Pages/dlverify.aspx

Wisconsin - https://trust.dot.state.wi.us/occsin/occsinservlet?whoami=statusp1

 

 

South Dakota Raises Fee for Court Record Searches

On March 20, 2012, the South Dakota Governor signed HB 1058. The new law will increase search fees charged to view or obtain Circuit Court records. The current $15.00 fee will increase to $20.00 as of Jan. 1, 2013, but the fee would return to $15.00 effective July 1, 2017. (HB1058 was actually a compromise - the original bill had an increase of $10.00.) The additional funds will be used to offset last year's budget cuts and to support an upgrade of the court's computerized case management system.

The $20.00 fee is for a search of statewide criminal and civil records, and also is applicable for local onsite requests to check individual court case files. View the bill at http://legis.state.sd.us/index.aspx.

Reminder - PACER Goes to $.10 a Page on April 1st

The Federal Court System provides public access to court case information via the Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system. Effective April 1, 2012, the fee to electronically access information will increase from $.08 to $.10 per page.

However, it should be noted that PACER users who do not accrue charges of more than $15 in a quarterly billing cycle would not be charged a fee. The pre-April 2012 exemption is $10 per quarter. PACER documentation indicates that this expanded exemption means 75 to 80 percent of all users will still pay no fees. See www.pacer.gov/.

San Luis Obispo County, CA

Per PRRN Member Judith Smith, the Executive Director of the San Luis Obispo Superior Court - Ms. Susan Matherly - has simply had enough. Ms. Matherly has had it with all the public record search firms hired by employers to check criminal records of local residents that apply for jobs. On March 14th she announced at a local Bar Association luncheon that she was shutting down the public access terminal to background screening firms. And on Monday March 19th she did it. The IT staff removed the public access computer and put it in a locked room to be accessible only by attorneys and their investigators.

To better understand Ms. Matherly's logic, consider the following summarized statements she also made at the March 14th luncheon, as reported by Ms. Smith:
Public access information was never intended for background screeners. Background screening companies just make people not get hired. Employers shouldn't be using background screening companies, but rather should be using the DOJ/LiveScan [the FBI]. There are penal codes stating that the type of research that background screening researchers are doing is illegal. [But she refused to mention what these laws are.] Background screening companies and researchers are not trained to know what they are doing. There is no identifying information in the computer to know if a researcher has indentified the correct person. [Note: The terminal does display a full name and the DOB.]

At present according to Judith Smith, Ms Matherly has instructed the Superior Court Clerks to do the following:
Only attorneys and their investigators now have access to the locked room where the public access computer with access to the public records now resides.
Clerks are not allowed to provide dockets to anyone except to the defendant or their attorney of record.
Record searchers may only provide clerks with 10 names a day.
Clerks may only provide very limited information (for free) if there is only one recent case. Only data provided are the case #, violation and disposition date, the charge and disposition for convictions. If a charge was dismissed the clerk will not inform the requester. Also, no information is provided on sentencing or parole violations. However, the researcher can obtain this information for a $15.00 fee.
If a subject name has more than one case, the clerks will only provide the case numbers. The researchers then must order each file to review for a $15.00 fee per case.

For those interested:

Judith Smith can be reached at Judie@jhsmithconsulting.com.

The presiding judge and Ms. Matherly's supervisor is Judge Barry LaBarbera.

Ms. Matherly can be reached at:

Ms. Susan Matherly
Executive Director, Superior Court
1050 Monterey Street
San Luis Obispo, CA 93408
susan.matherly@slo.courts.ca.gov
805-781-5421

Fee Increase Likely for Washington State Driving Records

Engrossed House Bill 2660 has passed both the House and Senate in the Washington State legislation and is now waiting the governor's signature. The bill increases the fee for a driving record, vehicle certificate of ownership, certain vehicle license plates, and vehicle dealer licenses. The fee for an abstract would increase from $10.00 to $13.00 per record - note this is a compromise as the original bill had the fee set at $15.00. If the bill is signed by the governor (or if not vetoed by March 31, 2012), all fee increases will take place effective October 1, 2012.

For more information visit www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx and search for HB 2660.

Makeup of Death Master File Changed

Makeup of Death Master File Changed Effective November 1, 2011, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is no longer including state death records in the SSA's Master Death File (DMF). The law governing this action is found at www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0205.htm. Section 205(r) prohibits the SSA from disclosing state death records it receives, except in limited circumstances. Since it can no longer add these entries, the SSA further decided to remove 4.2 million existing state records from the DMF. This removal represents a little over 4.7% of the entire database. One of the significant pieces of information that the state records data added to the DMF was the last known residence (state, county) of a subject. Please note that the SSA does not have a death record for all persons. The DMF as a verification tool is good, but the absence of a particular person does not guarantee the person is alive.

The FBI Will Lower Fee for Fingerprint Searches

Authorized users requesting fingerprint-based Criminal History Record Information (CHRI) checks for certain noncriminal justice purposes will see a lower fee starting March 19, 2012. The charge for a CHRI check when submitting fingerprints will decrease by $2.75, and if for a volunteer there is a $.25 decrease. For example the current fee in effect for electronic submission by authorized users will decrease from $19.25 to $16.50. The fee for Centralized Billing Service Providers (CBSPs) will decrease from $17.25 to $14.50. The fee for "volunteers" will decrease from $15.25 to $15.00, and if CBSP then $13.25 to $13.00. This new fee should lower the cost when the FBI performs the fingerprint search for background checks performed by state occupational licensing boards and also for the issuance of HAZMAT endorsements for commercial driver licenses. More information about this decrease is viewable on the Federal Register at www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-12-20/html/2011-32544.htm.

Collin County Texas

The Texas Collin County District Clerk recently announced a new web-based service for attorney and law firms to access court records and files. The subscription fee is based on the number of attorneys in the firm. See www.co.collin.tx.us/district_clerk/index.jsp

 

At present, Collin County Texas currently offers the public a basic search and an advanced search of the court record index. Both are free, neither provide case documents. The Basic Search provides a name search showing a basic information list for all case types simultaneously. The Case Record Inquiry system provides a Register of Actions with case details. These searches can be used to search for active and some historical cases held in any of the Collin County District, County Court at Law, including Probate, or Justice Courts.

Sidebar About Collin County Ranchers and Brands
Texas requires cattle raisers and livestock owners to register their brands in the county or counties in which they operate. Every 10 years, Texas requires that these brands be re-registered. The brand re-registration period began Aug. 31, 2011, and concludes Feb. 29, 2012. Collin County has automated this process and is the first county to enable online registration and searching of Brands, Marks and Tattoos. The search site is at http://apps.collincountytx.gov/dnnpub/mbt/Home.aspx. Ranches are presented in alpha order of the last name of the owner of the livestock.
Although Texas does not have a statewide brand registry database, the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) does have a limited brand search at www.tscrabrands.com/default.aspx.

Oregon Motor Vehicle Records

In late 2011, the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) signed an agreement with NIC, Inc. that enables NIC to provide E-Government services on behalf of Oregon State Agencies. Effective April 1, 2012, the local NIC affiliate will be the designated DMV source to provide electronic driving records to approved entities. The fee for an electronic driving record will be $9.68.

Until April 1st 2012 when the new system is operational, qualified customers may still access Oregon driving records via the real time connection through AAMVAnet. These customers have established a Record Inquiry Account and are able to request the 3-year employment record, the 3-year non-employment record, or the combined "court print." The fee for this program is $2.00 per record with a onetime set-up fee of $2,500. For more information, contact the Records Policy Unit at 503-945-7950.