Bill > H5076

This bill aims to improve and modernize the information technology systems and capacities of the judiciary in Massachusetts. The key provisions include: - Appropriating $165 million for projects to establish digital courthouses and courtrooms, improve court security systems, and modernize court administrative operations such as voice over IP phone systems, energy management, and data storage. - Allowing courts to electronically imprint their official seals and authorizing electronic signatures by court officials. - Requiring the parole board to record and securely store audio from all parole hearings. - Allowing court records, including electronic records, to be maintained electronically by the recorder's office. - Permitting electronic notarization and remote online notarization, and establishing standards and requirements for remote notarization by notaries public in the state. - Making various other amendments to state laws to enable and accommodate the use of electronic records and signatures in court proceedings and other legal transactions. The bill also includes provisions unrelated to the judiciary, such as changes to the state's firearms licensing laws.

Budget and Finance

House Committee on Ways and Means (H), Joint Committee on the Judiciary (J)

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/H5076