Bill Text: VA HB484 | 2012 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Court records; secure remote access to records includes locating technology to offsite facility.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2012-03-13 - Governor: Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0234) [HB484 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2012-HB484-Prefiled.html
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12103735D Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia: 1. That §§17.1-258.3:1, 17.1-276, 17.1-293, 17.1-294, and 17.1-502 of the Code of Virginia are amended and reenacted as follows: §17.1-258.3:1. Electronic filing of land records. A clerk of a circuit court may provide a network or system for electronic filing of land records in accordance with the Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act (§55-142.10 et seq.) and the provisions of Article 2.1 (§55-66.8 et seq.) of Chapter 4 of Title 55 regarding the satisfaction of mortgages. The clerk may charge a fee to be assessed for each instrument recorded electronically in an amount not to exceed $5 per document. The fee shall be paid to the clerk's office and deposited by the clerk into the clerk's nonreverting local fund to be used to cover operational expenses. Operational expenses shall include, but not be limited to, (i) computer support, maintenance, enhancements, upgrades, and replacements and office automation and information technology equipment including software and conversion services; (ii) preserving, maintaining, and enhancing court records, including, but not limited to, the costs of repairs, maintenance, consulting services, service contracts, redaction of social security numbers from land or other records, and system replacements or upgrades; and (iii) improving public access to records maintained by the clerk, including locating technology in an offsite facility for such purposes or for the implementation of a disaster recovery plan. The clerk shall enter into an electronic filing agreement with each filer in accordance with Virginia Real Property Electronic Recording Standards established by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. Nothing herein shall be construed to prevent the clerk from entering into agreements with designated application service providers to provide all or part of the network or system for electronic filing of land records as provided herein. §17.1-276. Fee allowed for providing secure remote access to land records. A. A clerk of the circuit court who provides secure remote access to land records pursuant to §17.1-294 may charge a fee as provided in this section established by the clerk to cover the operational expenses. Operational expenses shall include, but not be limited to, (i) computer support, maintenance, enhancements, upgrades, and replacements and office automation and information technology equipment including software and conversion services; (ii) preserving, maintaining, and enhancing court records, including, but not limited to, the costs of repairs, maintenance, consulting services, service contracts, redaction of social security numbers from land or other records, and system replacements or upgrades; and (iii) improving public access to records maintained by the clerk, including locating technology in an offsite facility for such purposes or for the implementation of a disaster recovery plan. A flat fee may be assessed for each subscriber, as defined in §17.1-295, in an amount not to exceed $50 per month. The fee shall be paid to the clerk's office and deposited by the clerk into the clerk's nonreverting local fund to be used to cover operational expenses. The circuit court clerk shall enter into an agreement with each person whom the clerk authorizes to have remote access, in accordance with the security standards established by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency. The Office of the Attorney General, Division of Debt Collection, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation shall be exempt from paying any fee for remote access to land records. If any clerk contracts with an outside vendor to provide remote access to land records to subscribers, such contract shall contain a provision exempting the Office of the Attorney General, Division of Debt Collection, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Rail and Public Transportation from paying any access or subscription fee. B. (Expires September 30, 2012) The clerk of the Circuit Court of Prince William County may establish a pilot program under which the clerk assesses a daily fee for remote access to land records and a separate fee per image downloaded in an amount not to exceed the fee provided in subdivision A 8 of §17.1-275. The clerk shall make a report on any such pilot program to the House Committee for Courts of Justice and the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice on or before September 30, 2012. The report shall provide a summary of the pilot program and include the level of participation, the costs of the program, and the revenues generated by the program. §17.1-293. Posting and availability of certain information on the Internet; prohibitions. A. Notwithstanding Chapter 37 (§2.2-3700 et seq.) of Title
2.2 or subsection B B. Beginning January 1, 2004, no court clerk shall post on the Internet any document that contains the following information: (i) an actual signature, (ii) a social security number, (iii) a date of birth identified with a particular person, (iv) the maiden name of a person's parent so as to be identified with a particular person, (v) any financial account number or numbers, or (vi) the name and age of any minor child. C. Each such clerk shall post notice that includes a list of the documents routinely posted on its website. However, the clerk shall not post information on his website that includes private activity for private financial gain. D. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit access to any original document as provided by law. E. This section shall not apply to the following: 1. Providing access to any document among the land records via secure remote access pursuant to §17.1-294; 2. Postings related to legitimate law-enforcement purposes; 3. Postings of historical, genealogical, interpretive, or educational documents and information about historic persons and events; 4. Postings of instruments and records filed or recorded prior to 1907; 5. Providing secure remote access to any person, his counsel, or staff which counsel directly supervises to documents filed in matters to which such person is a party; 6. Providing official certificates and certified records in digital form of any document maintained by the clerk pursuant to § 17.1-258.3:2; and 7. Providing secure remote access, subject to any fees charged
by the clerk, to members in good standing with the Virginia State Bar and their
authorized agents, pro hac vice attorneys authorized by the court for purposes
of the practice of law, and such governmental agencies as authorized by the
clerk. F. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the Supreme Court or any other court from providing online access to a case management system that may include abstracts of case filings and proceedings in the courts of the Commonwealth. G. The court clerk shall be immune from suit arising from any acts or omissions relating to providing remote access on the Internet pursuant to this section unless the clerk was grossly negligent or engaged in willful misconduct. This subsection shall not be construed to limit, withdraw, or overturn any defense or immunity already existing in statutory or common law, or to affect any cause of action accruing prior to July 1, 2005. H. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit any data accessed by secure remote access to be sold or posted on any other website or in any way redistributed to any third party, and the clerk, in his discretion, may deny secure remote access to ensure compliance with these provisions. §17.1-294. Secure remote access to land records. A. No circuit court clerk shall provide secure remote access to any land record that does not comply with the provisions of this section and the secure remote access standards developed by the Virginia Information Technologies Agency in consultation with the circuit court clerks, the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, the Compensation Board, and users of land and other court records. B. 1. Beginning July 1, 2012, any land record made available to subscribers via secure remote access may contain only the last four digits of the social security number of any party. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require the clerk to reinsert the last four digits of a social security number on any land record where the redaction of the entire social security number has been completed prior to July 1, 2012. 2. However, the original land record maintained by the clerk may contain a social security number if otherwise provided by law, but that original record shall not be made available via secure remote access unless it complies with this section. 3. Except in cases where the original record is required by law to contain a social security number, the attorney or party who prepares or submits the land record for recordation has the responsibility for ensuring that the social security number has been removed from the writing prior to the instrument's being submitted for recordation. C. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit access to any original document as provided by law. D. Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit any data accessed by secure remote access to be sold or posted on any other website or in any way redistributed to any third party, and the clerk, in his discretion, may deny secure remote access to ensure compliance with these provisions. E. The clerk of the circuit court of any jurisdiction shall be immune from suit arising from any acts or omissions relating to providing secure remote access to land records pursuant to this section unless the clerk was grossly negligent or engaged in willful misconduct. §17.1-502. Administrator of circuit court system. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall be the
administrator of the circuit court system, which shall include responsibility
for the operation and maintenance of a case management system and financial
management system, and related technology improvements, that the Executive
Secretary shall deem necessary for the administration of the circuit court
system. The Executive Secretary shall permit an interface with the case
management system, financial management system, and related technology
improvements for the purpose of providing electronic information to state
agencies, upon request of any circuit court that uses automation or technology
improvements provided by a private vendor or the locality. The circuit court
clerk and the clerk's designated application service provider shall comply with
the security and data standards established by the Executive Secretary for any
such interface between a case management or financial management system
operated by a circuit court clerk and the systems of the Executive Secretary. The Executive Secretary shall establish security
and data standards for any such interface on or before June 30,
2013. The costs of designing, implementing, and maintaining
any such interface with the systems of the Executive Secretary shall be the
responsibility of the circuit court clerk. Any reasonable
expenses incurred within the office of the Executive Secretary |
