An update to the 2007 State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources

Coggins, Timothy L.

English

University of Richmond

University of RichmondUR Scholarship RepositoryLaw Faculty Publications School of Law2010ArkansasTimothy L. CogginsUniversity of Richmond, tcoggins@richmond.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/law-faculty-publicationsPart of the Legal Writing and Research CommonsThis Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Law at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion inLaw Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contactscholarshiprepository@richmond.edu.Recommended CitationTimothy L. Coggins, Arkansas, in 2009-10 Updates to the State-by-State Report on Authentication of Online Legal Resources 10-11(2010).2009-10 UPDATES TO THE STATE-BY-STATE REPORT ON AUTHENTICATION OF ONLINE LEGAL RESOURCES AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF LAW LIBRARIES ELECTRONIC LEGAL INFORMATION ACCESS & CITATION COMMITTEE February 2010 2007 Report and 2009-10 Update by Timothy L. Coggins, University of Richmond School of Law Librmy OFFICIAL STATUS Changes since the 2007 report AUTHENTICATION Changes since the 2007 report Arkansas online court. opinions are official, but oth~r. online legal resources are not official. The Arkansas SuJJreme Court Law Librmy was a leader in the United States in terms of making its opinions available to the public· electronically. The . state now has assumed a national leadership role· as well and currently designates its court opinions as official. Arkansas's legislative and executive branches h.ave not,. however, .taken steps to change the status of the online legal resource§ to offir;ial. · "'p., .. ,...., .. ·· .. • ;i~~ad<)re~sf~g t~e·~:t~e~tic~~~~ of' ~rilin~·· iegal resources, Court personnel have investigated necessary hardware and software to begin the 9uthentication process for court opinions. TheR,eporter of Decisions indicates that.the Court has developed a system using watermarking and electronic signatures and will implement that system shortly. The .4-rkansqs . legi~fativr: 9n~ ···.· .. exepi-ttiVe ...... branche.s·••.·~ .. hay?· n(;t;. hbl1Jf~Yffr, taken/ steps~•:fo·••' autltenticatetheir bnlineres~itrces. . 2. • • • •. .... •> • Has the state eliminated the print publication of any of these titles in favor of online only since the 2007 report? Yes, Arkansas has eliminated the printing of Arkansas Reports and Arkansas Appellate Reports in favor of online sources since the 2007 report. This action taken by the Arkansas Supreme Court occurred after the Arkansas legislature passed Act 221, "An Act to Provide for the Electronic Publication and Distribution of the Arkansas Reports," in its 2009 regular session. The act was approved by the Governor on Febrnary 25, 2009. Has the state enacted legislation guaranteeing the public's permanent access to state online government information since the 2007 report? Arkansas has not enacted legislation guaranteeing the public's permanent access to state online government information since the 2007 report. 10 ARKANSAS Have courts in your state adopted a medium neutral citation system since the 2007 report? Arkansas has adopted a medium neutral citation system since the 2007 report, although its rule indicates that a parallel citation to the regional reporter is required if available. Have there been any other significant changes to the 2007 state summary? Arkansas courts have designated as official the online versions of Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals decisions and are currently implementing a watermarking system to certify comi decisions as authentic. The 2009 legislative action, Act 221, requires that the Arkansas courts make available all the decisions by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, removing a previous distinction between "published" and "unpublished" opinions. Amended Ark. Code Ann. § 25-18-218 (A) (1) (2009) indicates that the repotis of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals shall be published and distributed in such fonnat and medium as the Supreme Court may direct. Sub-section (A) (2) stipulates that "the medium shall be a permanent, secure, and unalterable record of the final, official decisions of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals." [emphasis added] The publication of Arkansas Reports and Arkansas Appellate Reports in print ends with volume 375 Ark.II 04 Ark. App. (2009). The Comi, therefore, adopted a new neutral citation system in In Re: Arkansas Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Rule 5-2, No. 09-540, opinion delivered on May 28, 2009. For all published decisions issued between February 14, 2009 and July 1, 2009 and all decisions issued after July 1, 2009, the citation shall reference the case name, the year of the decision, the abbreviated comi name, and the appellate decision number. Parallel citations to the regional reporter, Southwestern Reporter, Third Series, if available, are required. If the regional reporter citation is not available, then parallel citations to unofficial sources, including unofficial electronic databases, may be provided (Supreme Court, Opinion 09-540, pages 5-6; http://courts.arkansas.gov/court opinions/sc/2009a/20090528/published/09-540.pd!). Arkansas does not certify as official and authentic online versions of statutes, session laws, and administrative regulations. The Arkansas General Assembly website states that the "code that is provided on this site is an unofficial posting of the Arkansas Code" and indicates that the "printed version of the Arkansas Code should be consulted for all matters requiring reliance on the statutory text." The website includes acts of the Arkansas General Assembly for both the current session and earlier sessions, but does not indicate whether the acts located there are official or unofficial and does not refer the user to the print Acts of Arkansas as the official versions. Since the Arkansas General Assembly has designated the online version of the Arkansas Code as unofficial, it is likely that it would view the online version of the Acts of Arkansas as unofficial as well. Arkansas administrative regulations are published in two sources - a print Code of Arkansas Rules and print and online versions of the Arkansas Register. The Code of STATE-BY-STA TE REPORT ON AUTHENTICATION OF ONLINE LEGAL RESOURCES 2009-10 UPDATE 11 

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