The people's right to judicial transparency.

26LSO-0316
2026
STATE OF WYOMING
26LSO-0316
Numbered
2.0

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0093

The people's right to judicial transparency.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Lucas, Bear, Brady, Hoeft, Johnson, McCann, Ottman, Singh, Smith, Strock, Webb and Webber

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to courts; requiring court records and audio recordings to be publicly available online at no cost; specifying exceptions; providing definitions; making conforming amendments; authorizing and requiring rulemaking; providing an appropriation; and providing for effective dates.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1
.

W.S. 5
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1
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112 is created to read:

5
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1
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112.

Court records and court recordings; free online access required; exceptions; definitions.

(a)

As used in this section:

(i)

"Court" means the Wyoming supreme court, the district courts, chancery court, circuit courts, probate courts and municipal courts of Wyoming and any other court in Wyoming established by state law;

(ii)

"Court record" means any record created by or submitted to a court, including but not limited to:

(A)

All pleadings, motions, filings, orders and judgments;

(B)

Evidence, exhibits and discovery materials

submitted to a court, including interrogatories, depositions, affidavits and appendices;

(C)

Case metadata, including docket numbers, filing dates, case status and parties of record.

(iii)

"Sensitive and bulky exhibits" means money, controlled substances, child pornography, firearms, oversized charts, enlarged pictures and any other physical evidence that cannot be reduced to online access with reasonable effort and expense.

(b)

Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, each court shall make all of its court records available for public viewing at no cost through an online portal accessible through the court's website. For purposes of this subsection:

(i)

Each court may include a link on its website to the website where public access is made available;

(ii)

Groups of courts may utilize the same court information technology system or file access system to provide public online access to court records;

(iii)

Public access shall be made available through standard internet browsers without requiring registration or the payment of fees or costs;

(iv)

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or limit a court from charging fees for:

(A)

Parties making electronic filings in that court;

(B)

Paper copies of court records.

(c)

Courts may, by rule, exempt or limit online public access to the following court records:

(i)

Court records in proceedings in juvenile court;

(ii)

Court records in adoption, guardianship and conservatorship proceedings;

(iii)

Court records in cases and proceedings involving minors, except for those cases and proceedings where:

(A)

The minor is charged with a criminal offense as an adult;

(B)

The case is transferred from juvenile court to district court in accordance with W.S. 14
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6
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237. For court records in cases under this subparagraph, only court records generated after a case is transferred to district court shall be included in the public access online system.

(iv)

Sensitive and bulky records;

(v)

Sexual assault offenses charged under title 6, chapter 2, article 3 of the Wyoming statutes, in accordance with W.S. 6
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2
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319;

(vi)

Court records in cases that are sealed by a court, in accordance with all of the following:

(A)

A court may seal a case upon motion by a party and upon a showing by clear and convincing evidence that:

(I)

There exists an interest that will suffer serious and likely harm from disclosure of the court records;

(II)

The interest identified in subdivision (I) of this subparagraph outweighs the public's interest in access to the court records; and

(III)

There is no less restrictive alternative available to adequately protect the interest identified in subdivision (I) of this subparagraph.

(B)

Any sealing of court records made under this paragraph shall be narrowly tailored;

(C)

A court ordering the sealing of court records under this paragraph shall provide particularized findings on the record for the need for sealing and shall specify the duration of the sealing and a mechanism for periodically reviewing the order sealing the court records;

(D)

The court shall give preference to redaction, anonymization and delayed disclosure over sealing court records;

(E)

For cases or court records sealed under this paragraph, the case number and a brief description of the reason for sealing or restricting the court records shall be included on the website or online portal where court records may be accessed in accordance with this section.

(d)

Except as provided in subsection (e) of this section, each court shall:

(i)

Provide live, real
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time audio or video streaming of each hearing or proceeding at no cost to the public;

(ii)

Provide audio or video recordings of each hearing or proceeding on the court's website at no cost to the public not later than seven (7) days after the hearing or proceeding concludes;

(iii)

Maintain an online archive of its audio and video recordings searchable by case number, party and date.

(e)

Subsection (d) of this section shall not apply to:

(i)

Courts that have not made audio or video recordings of its hearings or proceedings at any time before July 1, 2026;

(ii)

Cases and proceedings identified in paragraphs (c)(i), (ii), (iii), (v) and (vi) of this section.

(f)

In implementing this section, the supreme court or the judicial conference of district judges, as applicable, shall:

(i)

Individually or collectively for groups of courts, develop, maintain and operate an online portal or access system to make court records and recordings available to the public at no cost;

(ii)

Establish technical standards for uploading, indexing and securing court records;

(iii)

Promulgate rules for the redaction of confidential information in accordance with law.

Section 2.

W.S. 5
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120(a) is amended to read:

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120.

Judicial systems automation account created; purposes; court information technology equipment.

(a)

There is created an account entitled the "judicial systems automation account." No funds shall be expended from the account unless and until the legislature appropriates the funds. Funds within the account shall be used by the supreme court for the purchase, maintenance and operation of computer hardware, including court information technology equipment, and software to enhance the communication, records and management needs of the courts of the judicial branch of the state of Wyoming.
Funds within the account may be used, as determined by the supreme court, to provide online public access to court records and recordings in accordance with W.S. 5
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112.
Interest accruing to this account shall be retained therein and shall be expended for the purposes provided in this section, as appropriated by the legislature. Annually, the supreme court shall develop a plan for all trial and appellate courts within the state for the expenditure of funds from the account. Prior to implementation, the plan shall be annually submitted to the joint appropriations
interim
committee and joint judiciary interim committee for review and comment.

Section 3.

There is appropriated one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) from the general fund to the Wyoming supreme court for purposes of implementing this act. The supreme court shall oversee the distribution of funds from this appropriation to other courts to ensure that each court receives funds to comply with this act. This appropriation shall be for the period beginning July 1, 2026 and ending June 30, 2028. This appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose and any unexpended, unobligated funds remaining from this appropriation shall revert as provided by law on June 30, 2028. It is the intent of the legislature that this appropriation not be included on the supreme court's standard budget request for the immediately succeeding fiscal biennium.

Section 4.

The supreme court and any other court may take any action necessary to implement this act.

Section 5
.

(a)

Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective July 1, 2026
.

(b)

Sections 4 and 5 of this act are effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

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HB0093