E-SJI News

The SJI Board of Directors met on March 25, 2010, to award grants for the 2nd quarter of FY 2010. Fourteen 

(14) new grants were awarded, totaling $593,121. Three (3) Project Grants were awarded, including: support to 

the Michigan State Court Administrative Office for a judicial workload assessment; funding to the Minnesota 

Judicial Branch for technology enhanced learning integration and statewide training; and assistance to the 

American Bar Association to build a volunteer guardian assistance program for the state courts, to include 

updating a 1992 volunteer guardianship monitoring manual and making it available on the internet.

Four (4) Technical Assistance (TA) Projects were awarded, including: an improvement project for immigration, 

cultural competency, and litigant access to justice for the Sonoma County, California, Superior Court; a 

caseflow assessment for the Seattle Municipal Court; a study of potential court consolidation in Mahoning 

County, Ohio; and professional development standardization for the National Association for State Judicial 

Educators (NASJE). Seven (7) Curriculum Adaptation & Training (CAT) Grants were awarded, including: 

immigration in the state courts training programs for Michigan and Washington; education for judges in New 

Mexico and North Dakota on decision-making in juvenile sex offense cases; and Institute for Court 

Management (ICM) training in various locations across California.

UPDATED BENCH GUIDE AVAILABLE ON

IMMIGRATION ISSUES IN THE STATE COURTS

As part of its efforts through SJI’s Strategic Initiatives Grants (SIG) program, the Center for Public Policy 

Studies (CPPS) has recently finalized an updated Bench Guide for state trial court judges on immigration issues. 

The Bench Guide is intended to help judges identify circumstances before them in which a state criminal 

conviction or sentence may have collateral immigration consequences. The updated bench guide is even more 

user-friendly than previous versions, and the PDF document is available to all on the SJI website. CPPS is 

currently working to finalize a bench guide on juvenile and family immigration issues, which should be 

available next month. This will also be made available on the SJI website.

BOARD AWARDS GRANTS FOR THE 2nd QUARTER

Inside

Indiana Implements New Marriage License 

Database to Control Costs & Increase Child 

Support 2

March 2010 Vol. 20, No. 6

Scholarship Concurrence Form 3 Special Announcements 3
INDIANA IMPLEMENTS NEW MARRIAGE LICENSE DATABASE

TO CONTROL COSTS AND INCREASE CHILD SUPPORT

The Indiana Supreme Court, Division of State Court Administration, Judicial Technology Committee (JTAC) 

was created to assist Indiana trial courts and clerks with technology efforts. JTAC partnered with clerks of the 

court to design, develop, and deploy an electronic marriage license application. Under state law, clerks of the 

circuit courts are responsible for marriage license issuance. With SJI support through a Project Grant in FY 

2008 (SJI-08-N-082), JTAC: 1) developed a public access capability for the marriage license database, and 2) 

linked the database to other databases with the goal of addressing Title IV-D child support enforcement efforts. 

The public access component of the marriage license database allows users the ability to complete their 

applications electronically. They can use their home computers, or public access terminals located in the courts 

or other public locations (such as public libraries, etc.). This saves the courts time and funding on the 

manpower required to manually process marriage license applications at the courthouse. By shifting data entry 

to the applicants, staff are able to perform other critical tasks. In addition, it gives the applicant more time to 

gather the necessary information required to apply for a marriage license that he/she may not have (for example 

a parent’s birthplace). Applicants for a marriage license still have to physically appear before a clerk after 

submitting an online application to validate the request.

The focal point of this initiative was to develop a system to locate individuals who owe child support but were 

unable to be located. Many individuals who owe child support are very mobile and move from address to 

address, and it is difficult for officials in Indiana to track their movements with the current tools available. The 

second component of this initiative allowed JTAC to develop a capability to do this, by linking the marriage 

license database with other databases used by prosecutor offices and the Child Support Bureau. At the point 

that an individual applies for a marriage license, the most recent address is captured and can be matched up with 

existing information to indentify the individual as being delinquent on child support. The custodial parent can 

work through the prosecutor’s office to locate and file enforcement action against the delinquent parent under 

the Title IV-D program. 

This project is one of many examples of how the state courts are developing innovate ways to control costs, 

while ensuring access to justice. In this case, the Indiana courts were able to develop a cost-controlling 

application that also could be used to support child enforcement efforts across the state. 

Page 2 E-SJI News – Vol. 20, No. 6
SCHOLARSHIP CONCURRENCE FORM

Applicants for scholarships must submit a SJI Form S2 – Concurrence Form. 

This form must be signed by the chief justice of the applicant’s state, and the 

original submitted to SJI along with the Form S1 – Application. The signature 

of the presiding judge of the applicant’s court may not be substituted for that 

of the chief justice or his/her designee. A designee of the chief justice can 

only be established by a letter directly from the chief justice to SJI notating 

who has signature authority in his/her state for scholarship purposes. SJI 

maintains these designation letters on file. 

Potential scholarship applicants are strongly encouraged to contact SJI with 

any questions prior to submitting their applications. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

 Next grant and scholarship application deadline: May 1, 2010 (3rd

 Grant and scholarship application deadlines for the remainder of the 

fiscal year: August 1, 2010 (4

Quarter, FY 2010).

th

 Current and future grantees and scholarship recipients can choose to 

receive payments via EFT. This is a faster method of receiving 

payment from SJI. To participate in EFT, SJI will need a completed

Quarter). 

SF 3881-Automated Clearing House (ACH)/Miscellaneous Payment 

Enrollment Form, which is available on the SJI website under the 

Forms tab.

Board of Directors

Chairman

Robert A. Miller

Chief Justice (Ret.)

Supreme Court of South Dakota

Pierre, SD

Vice Chairman

Joseph F. Baca

Chief Justice (Ret.)

New Mexico Supreme Court

Santa Fe, NM

Secretary

Sandra A. O’Connor

States Attorney of Baltimore 

County (Ret.)

Towson, MD

Executive Committee Member

Keith McNamara, Esq.

McNamara & McNamara

Columbus, OH

Terrence B. Adamson, Esq.

Executive Vice-President

The National Geographic Society

Robert N. Baldwin

Executive Vice President and

General Counsel

National Center for State Courts

Sophia H. Hall

Administrative Presiding Judge

Circuit Court of Cook County

Chicago, IL

Tommy Jewell

Presiding Children’s Court Judge 

(Ret.)

Second Judicial District Court

Albuquerque, NM

Arthur A. McGiverin

Chief Justice (Ret.)

Supreme Court of Iowa

Des Moines, IA

Janice Munsterman

Executive Director

Jonathan Mattiello

Deputy Director

The State Justice Institute is a 

private, non-profit corporation 

established by Federal law in 1984 

to improve the quality of justice in 

state courts, and foster innovative, 

efficient solutions to common 

issues faced by all courts. SJI is 

governed by a Board of Directors 

appointed by the President and 

confirmed by the Senate.

Page 3 E-SJI News – Vol. 20, No. 6