IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA
No. AF 06-0377
__________________
IN THE MATTER OF ) PETITION TO AMEND
ADOPTING RULES FOR ) AND EXTEND
PUBLIC ACCESS AND ) IMPLEMENTATION DEADLINE
PRIVACY TO COURT )
RECORDS IN MONTANA )
__________________________________________________
Come now the Chairs of the Taskforce charged by the Montana
Supreme Court with developing and proposing Rules for Public Access and
Privacy to Court Records (Rules) in Montana. The Court approved the Rules
February 13th, 2007, following a Comment period that received seven
comments.
Section 8.30 of the Rules concerns the obligation of the Court to
inform and educate judges and court personnel about the Access Rules.
Taskforce members have spent considerable time since February presenting
and explaining the Rules to clerks of court, magistrates, district court judges
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and attorneys. In addition, a video was prepared and distributed to
emphasize the importance of the Montana Constitution’s provisions for
public access and privacy.
During this educational effort we have become aware of awkward
wording in Section 4.5(c) that we believe has confused many people. We
request that the Court change the wording of the first line of that section to
read:
Unless required to be made public, the following information is
not available without leave of the court:
Our intent was never to override current statutory requirements. We believe
this minor change will assist in the general understanding of the rules and
their implementation.
The recent educational efforts have given us a genuine concern that
the Courts are not yet ready to implement the Rules. There is particular
difficulty in applying Section 4.5’s restrictions for Social Security numbers,
full birthdates, financial account numbers, and minors’ full names. Although
frequently not required by statute, and thus restricted under the new Rules,
there are dozens of current court forms that require this data.
We are requesting that the court delay implementation of the Rules
until July 1, 2008. We would like a sixty-day comment period for courts and
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attorneys to tell us which specific forms and processes will have to be
amended to comply with Section 4.5(c). The Taskforce will use the
following four months to respond to those specific concerns, modify forms,
and develop procedures and advice for courts, clerks, and practitioners.
THEREFORE,
The Taskforce on Public Access and Privacy to Court Records in
Montana requests the Court to:
1. Amend Section 4.5(c) to read:
Unless required to be made public, the following information is
not available without leave of the court:
2. Extend the implementation deadline for the Rules from
December 31, 2007 to July 1, 2008, with a sixty day comment
period running from January 1 to February 28 to allow
comments on implementation difficulties with Section 4.5(c).
Dated this 11th day of December, 2007.
(Signature)
Judy Meadows, State Law Librarian
State Law Library
215 N. Sanders Helena, MT, 59620 (406) 444-1979
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(Signature)
Karen Nelson, Director of Information Technology
Office of the Court Administrator
301 South Park Helena, MT, 59601 (406) 841-2944
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