II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2397 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to State and Tribal 

courts in order to allow the electronic service of certain court orders, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2019 

Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to State 

and Tribal courts in order to allow the electronic service 

of certain court orders, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electronic Service for 

5 Effectiveness, Reduction of Violence, and Improved Court 

6 Efficiency Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘E-SERVICE Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATE AND TRIBAL COURTS TO IMPLE2 MENT PROTECTION ORDER PILOT PRO3 GRAMS. 

4 Part U of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

5 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10461 et seq.) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) by redesignating sections 2103, 2104, and 

8 2105 as sections 2104, 2105, and 2106, respectively; 

9 and 

10 (2) by inserting after section 2102 the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 2103. GRANTS TO STATE AND TRIBAL COURTS TO IM13 PLEMENT PROTECTION ORDER PILOT PRO14 GRAMS. 

15 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec16 tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a State or tribal court 

17 that is part of a multidisciplinary partnership that in18 cludes, to the extent practicable— 

19 ‘‘(1) State, tribal, or local law enforcement 

20 agency; 

21 ‘‘(2) a State, tribal, or local prosecutor advocate 

22 group; 

23 ‘‘(3) a victim service provider or State or tribal 

24 domestic violence coalition; 

25 ‘‘(4) a nonprofit program or government agency 

26 with demonstrated experience in providing legal asVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397

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1 sistance or legal advice to victims of domestic vio2 lence and sexual assault; 

3 ‘‘(5) the bar association of the applicable State 

4 or Indian Tribe; 

5 ‘‘(6) the State or tribal association of court 

6 clerks; 

7 ‘‘(7) a State, tribal, or local association of 

8 criminal defense attorneys; 

9 ‘‘(8) not fewer than 2 individuals with expertise 

10 in the design and management of court case man11 agement systems and systems of integration; 

12 ‘‘(9) not fewer than 2 State or tribal court 

13 judges with experience in— 

14 ‘‘(A) the field of domestic violence; and 

15 ‘‘(B) issuing protective orders; and 

16 ‘‘(10) a judge assigned to the criminal docket of 

17 the State or tribal court. 

18 ‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to grants au20 thorized under section 2101, the Attorney General 

21 shall make grants to eligible entities to carry out the 

22 activities described in subsection (c) of this section. 

23 ‘‘(2) NUMBER.—The Attorney General may 

24 award not more than 10 grants under paragraph 

25 (1). 


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1 ‘‘(3) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant award2 ed under paragraph (1) may be not more than 

3 $1,500,000. 

4 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re6 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant 

7 funds, in consultation with the partners required 

8 under subsection (a), to— 

9 ‘‘(A) develop and implement a program for 

10 properly and legally serving protection orders 

11 through electronic communication methods to— 

12 ‘‘(i) modernize the service process and 

13 make the process more effective and effi14 cient; 

15 ‘‘(ii) provide for improved safety of 

16 victims; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) make protection orders enforce18 able as quickly as possible; 

19 ‘‘(B) develop best practices relating to the 

20 service of protection orders through electronic 

21 communication methods; 

22 ‘‘(C) ensure that the program developed 

23 under subparagraph (A) complies with due 

24 process requirements and any other procedures 

25 required by law or by a court; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) implement any technology necessary 

2 to carry out the program developed under sub3 paragraph (A), such as technology to verify and 

4 track the receipt of a protection order by the 

5 intended party. 

6 ‘‘(2) TIMELINE.—An eligible entity that re7 ceives a grant under this section shall— 

8 ‘‘(A) implement the program required 

9 under paragraph (1)(A) not later than 2 years 

10 after receiving the grant; and 

11 ‘‘(B) carry out the program for not fewer 

12 than 3 years. 

13 ‘‘(d) DIVERSITY OF RECIPIENTS.—The Attorney 

14 General shall award grants under this section to eligible 

15 entities in a variety of areas and situations, including— 

16 ‘‘(1) a State court that serves a population of 

17 not fewer than 1,000,000 individuals; 

18 ‘‘(2) a State court that— 

19 ‘‘(A) serves a State that is among the 7 

20 States with the lowest population density in the 

21 United States; and 

22 ‘‘(B) has a relatively low rate of successful 

23 service with respect to protection orders, as de24 termined by the Attorney General; 

25 ‘‘(3) a State court that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) serves a State that is among the 7 

2 States with the highest population density in 

3 the United States; and 

4 ‘‘(B) has a relatively low rate of successful 

5 service with respect to protection orders, as de6 termined by the Attorney General; 

7 ‘‘(4) a court that uses an integrated, statewide 

8 case management system; 

9 ‘‘(5) a court that uses a standalone case man10 agement system; 

11 ‘‘(6) a tribal court; and 

12 ‘‘(7) a court that serves a culturally specific 

13 and underserved population. 

14 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity shall sub16 mit an application to the Attorney General that in17 cludes— 

18 ‘‘(A) a description of the process that the 

19 eligible entity uses for service of protection or20 ders at the time of submission of the applica21 tion; 

22 ‘‘(B) to the extent practicable, statistics re23 lating to protection orders during the 3 cal24 endar years preceding the date of submission of 

25 the application, including rates of— 


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1 ‘‘(i) successful service; and 

2 ‘‘(ii) enforcement; 

3 ‘‘(C) an initial list of the entities serving as 

4 the partners required under subsection (a); and 

5 ‘‘(D) any other information the Attorney 

6 General may reasonably require. 

7 ‘‘(2) NO OTHER APPLICATION REQUIRED.—An 

8 eligible entity shall not be required to submit an ap9 plication under section 2102 to receive a grant 

10 under this section. 

11 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Notwithstanding sec12 tion 40002(b)(11) of the Violence Against Women Act of 

13 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(b)(11)), as applied under section 

14 2106 of this part, not less than 5 percent and not more 

15 than 8 percent of the total amounts appropriated to carry 

16 out this section shall be available to the Attorney General 

17 for technical assistance relating to the purposes of this 

18 section. 

19 ‘‘(g) REPORT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 

21 after receiving a grant under this section, an eligible 

22 entity shall submit to the Attorney General a report 

23 that details the plan of the entity for implementation 

24 of the program under subsection (c). 

25 ‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 

2 after implementing the program under sub3 section (c), and not later than 2 years there4 after, an eligible entity shall submit to the At5 torney General a report that describes the pro6 gram implemented under subsection (c), includ7 ing with respect to— 

8 ‘‘(i) viability; 

9 ‘‘(ii) cost; 

10 ‘‘(iii) service statistics; 

11 ‘‘(iv) challenges; 

12 ‘‘(v) analysis of the technology used to 

13 fulfill the goals of the program; 

14 ‘‘(vi) analysis of any legal or due proc15 ess issues resulting from the electronic 

16 service method described in subsection 

17 (c)(1)(A); and 

18 ‘‘(vii) best practices for implementing 

19 such a program in other similarly situated 

20 locations. 

21 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF FINAL REPORT.—An 

22 eligible entity shall include in the second report 

23 submitted under subparagraph (A) rec24 ommendations for— 


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1 ‘‘(i) future nationwide implementation 

2 of the program implemented by the eligible 

3 entity; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) usage of electronic service, simi5 lar to the service used by the eligible enti6 ty, for other commonly used court orders, 

7 including with respect to viability and cost. 

8 ‘‘(h) NO REGULATIONS OR GUIDELINES RE9 QUIRED.—Notwithstanding section 2105, the Attorney 

10 General shall not be required to publish regulations or 

11 guidelines implementing this section. 

12 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi13 tion to amounts otherwise made available to carry out this 

14 part, there is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

15 this section $10,000,000 for fiscal years 2019 through 

16 2024.’’. 

Æ 


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