November 2007

E-SJI News

Vol. 18, No. 2

What’s Inside

continued on page 3

FY 2008 1 QTR Grants 2 Status of FY 2008 Appropriations 2 Kansas Judicial Branch (cont.) 3 Announcements 3

KANSAS JUDICIAL BRANCH

COURT SECURITY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PROJECT

The SJI-funded Court Security and

Emergency Preparedness Project

for the Kansas Judicial Branch is

currently being finalized. This

FY 2006 grant award developed

security and emergency preparedness standards and trained Kansas

Judicial Branch managers on how

to conduct vulnerability assessments.

The Kansas Department of

Homeland Security expressed interest in the project after the manager

for the Vulnerability Assessment

Team reviewed the initial RFP.

They agreed to be adjunct consultants for the project, and participated

in meetings with the Judicial

Branch Advisory Committee in

providing project oversight.

Furthermore, the Kansas DHS

agreed to conduct a vulnerability

assessment on each court facility in

the State at no cost to the Kansas

Judicial Branch.

The Advisory Committee for the

Judicial Branch was created in the

fall of 2005 to oversee the project.

This committee included judges,

court administrators, court clerks,

court services officers, and representatives from the Kansas

Association of Counties and the

Kansas Sheriff’s Association. The

Advisory Committee worked closely with the National Center for

State Courts and Kansas DHS

throughout the project in conducting the vulnerability assessments,

and then drafting security and

emergency preparedness standards.

Every judicial district in the state

tasked at least one representative to

review the proposed standards.

This project required an extensive

amount of state-wide collaboration.

The proposed emergency preparedness standards cover five areas:

1) leadership; 2) security; 3) emergency preparedness; 4) information

technology records and evidence;

and 5) pandemic disease. The standards are currently under review

and will undergo a final editing

process before submission to the

Kansas Supreme Court, with a

request that the standards be adopted in the form of a Supreme Court

administrative order. However, the

requirements contained in the standards will not all be mandated to

every court, or require counties to

purchase equipment or services.

The final standards will represent

best practices in court security

emergency preparedness and recognize the wide diversity in needs and

resources among the courts in

Kansas.

This project is the first phase of a

continuing effort in court security

st
Page 2 E-SJI News - Vol. 18, No.2

Congress has not yet approved a final version of the

Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies

(CJS) spending bill, which contains SJI’s appropriation

for FY 2008.

House and Senate conferees were scheduled to meet on

November 14, 2007, to resolve differences in the two

versions of the bill. However, the conference meeting

was postponed for reasons unrelated to SJI. For

FY 2008, the House approved a total of $4.64 million

for SJI (H.R. 3093), and the Senate approved $3.5 million (S. 1745).

The fiscal year started on October 1, 2007. However,

no appropriations bills (including CJS) had yet to be

signed into law by that date. Therefore, Congress

passed, and the President signed, a Continuing

Resolution (CR) to avoid the shutdown of Federal

agencies. The first CR (P.L. 110-92) expired on

November 16, 2008, and the current CR (P.L. 110-116)

continues SJI’s funding at FY 2007 levels until

December 14, 2007. 

SJI will continue to provide updates on the FY 2008

appropriations process in future E-SJI Newsletters.

STATUS OF FY 2008 APPROPRIATIONS

Although SJI is still operating under a Continuing

Resolution for FY 2008, the Board of Directors has

reviewed and given approval, subject to the availability of appropriations, for a number of FY 2008 grants.

The SJI Board of Directors met by telephone conference on November 9, 2008, to review the applications

submitted for the 1st quarter of FY 2008. 

The 1st quarter grant awards included a Project grant to

the Georgia Administrative Office of the Courts for the

Council of Probate Court Judges to develop a video

and handbook that detail the guardianship of incapacitated adults and minors, and the responsibilities that

are conveyed to guardians. 

A number of Technical Assistance (TA) grants were

also approved for strategic long range planning efforts

in the 16th Judicial Circuit Court of Jackson County,

Missouri, and the Florida Office of the State Court

Administrator. The Montana Supreme Court received

a TA grant to develop performance measures in conjunction with other court improvement projects in that

state. The Puerto Rico Office of Courts Administration

received a TA grant to support their efforts in developing a Mentoring Program for the judiciary, and the

Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts

will begin a state-wide court interpreter and language

services initiative. 

The Board also approved a Curriculum Adaptation and

Training (CAT) grant for the 20th Judicial Circuit,

Ottawa County Probate Court in Michigan, to provide

a Court Management Program for court personnel. 

Once SJI has its final appropriation for FY 2008, the

official awards will be made for these projects.

SJI BOARD APPROVES GRANTS 

FOR THE 1ST QUARTER OF FY 2008
Page 3 E-SJI News - Vol. 18, No.2

SJI News is published by the State Justice Institute

1650 King Street, Suite 600, Alexandria, VA 22314 

(703) 684-6100 Fax: (703) 684-7618 Web site address: http://www.statejustice.org

Editors

Janice Munsterman

Jonathan Mattiello

Design/Layout

Candice Jackson

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

Carlos R. Garza, Esq.

Administrative Judge (Ret.)

Round Rock, TX

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

Van Debrick

Finance Director

The State Justice Institute is a private, nonprofit corporation established by Congress

in 1984 to provide support for projects to

improve the quality of justice in State

courts. SJI is governed by a Board of

Directors appointed by the President and

confirmed by the Senate.

CONTACT THE STAFF

Are you on the E-SJI News e-list? Would you like to be? If so, please send your name and email

address to cjackson@statejustice.org to start receiving the E-SJI Newsletter. 

Janice Munsterman, Executive Director

jmunsterman@statejustice.org, Ext. 202

Jonathan Mattiello, Deputy Director

jmattiello@statejustice.org, Ext. 210

Van Debrick, Finance Director

vdebrick@statejustice.org, Ext. 203

LaVerne Durham, Program Manager

ldurham@statejustice.org, Ext. 204

Candice Jackson, Office Manager

cjackson@statejustice.org, Ext. 200

Ryan Williams, Finance Manager

rwilliams@statejustice.org, Ext. 206

ANNOUNCEMENTS

The next round of applications are due by February 1, 2008. February 1st is

the due date, not the mail date, for the next Board review of applications. This

includes applications for all grant types and scholarships. Feel free to contact

SJI if you have questions about the application process.

Scholarship applications due by February 1, 2008, are for courses beginning

after March 1, 2008.

The FY 2008 final Guideline has been sent to the Federal Register and will

hopefully be printed December 5th. The Guideline will also be made available

on the SJI website: http://www.statejustice.org.

Kansas Judicial Branch

and emergency preparedness in

Kansas. Although the grant project

goals are completed, the Kansas

Judicial Branch is well aware of the

need for continued activities in these

areas. There have been a number of

legal questions that still need to be

resolved regarding the authority of

these standards across the varying

court districts in the state. In addition,

there are issues specific to pandemic

disease, which still need to be

explored by the Advisory Committee.

Future activities will include training

on court security and emergency preparedness. SJI is very excited that the

initial grant goals have been achieved,

and is eager to see the Judicial Branch

continue building on these efforts.

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