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Commerce-Justice-State (CJS)
Appropriations
Legal Services
Corporation (LSC) Appropriations
Mental Health Courts Appropriations
State
Justice Institute (SJI) Appropriations
Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act (SANCA) Appropriations
| Issue:
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Commerce-Justice-State (CJS)
Appropriations
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| Impact: |
Court access to many federal civil and criminal grant program funds in FY 2004 are included in this bill as well as agencies (SJI, LSC and others) that are important to state court operations.
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| Summary: |
Every year the House and Senate bills for the Departments of Commerce-Justice-State contain many of the programs of interest to state courts. For example, the bills include appropriations for the SJI, CITA, LSC, Byrne grants, and the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block (JAIBG) grants. This bill also often defines eligibility for state and local government entities to apply for these funds. Block grant programs are a particular problem for court access to funds because a state executive agency is usually defined as the controlling entity for distributing the funds at the state level. Eligible recipients of funds at the local level are usually defined as "states and units of local government," which has been interpreted to exclude direct funding for the judiciary.
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| Position: |
State courts advocate full funding for those programs that will assist in dealing with the effects on state courts of federal initiatives. The State Justice Institute (SJI), Criminal Identification Technology Act (CITA), and Legal Services Corporation (LSC) are just a few of these programs. Court leaders have also supported adding language that would permit their participation in the planning and funding of other federal programs that affect their workloads.
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| References:
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Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations
Act
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| Support
Materials:
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No additional materials
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Appropriations
| Issue:
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Legal Services Corporation (LSC) Appropriations
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| Impact: |
LSC is a major source of funding for impoverished litigants in many state courts. Cuts would increase the number of pro se litigants or limit access to the
courts.
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| Summary: |
Since 1995, the LSC has been under attack in Congress (particularly in the House), which culminated in a FY 96 budget cut from $400 million to $278 million. There also were a number of new restrictions on types of cases and clients LSC could serve. These restrictions have been maintained in each appropriations bill since that time although the U.S. Supreme Court in LSC v. Velaquez struck down the restriction on welfare litigation. After a long fight, the FY 2001 appropriation for LSC was $329 million. The Bush administration proposed $329 million in its FY 2002 and FY 2003.
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| Position: |
Congress should provide at least $340 million for LSC for FY 2004.
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| References:
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- Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2003 (S. 2778)
- CCJ Resolution 99-A-XVI
- COSCA Resolution 99-A-VI
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Support
Materials:
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No additional materials
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Appropriations
| Issue:
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Mental Health Courts Appropriations
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| Impact: |
This program provides federal funding for courts, as well as, a source of pressure to create another specialized court proceeding.
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| Summary: |
S. 1865, America's Law Enforcement and Mental Health Project, sponsored by Senator DeWine (R-OH), authorized $10M in grants for each fiscal year through FY 2004. Grants are for programs that provide "continuing judicial supervision" over misdemeanor and nonviolent offenders with mental illness, retardation, or co-occurring mental illness and substance abuse disorders.
As authorized, the bill would fund up to 100 mental health courts, modeled after existing programs in Broward County, FL and King County, WA. In those programs, offenders charged with misdemeanors or nonviolent felonies that are believed to be suffering from mental illness or retardation, including substance abuse disorders, go before specially trained judges knowledgeable about mental illness and local treatment programs. The offenders, in exchange for dismissed charges or reduced sentencing, voluntarily receive outpatient or inpatient care, along with coordination of other services, such as life skills, housing placement, vocational training, job placement, and health care. The court maintains jurisdiction over the offender for a term up to the maximum sentence or probation that the offender could receive for the offense. The Act specifies that grants are to be made to "States, State courts, local courts, units of local government and Indian tribal governments."
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| Position: |
State courts advocate for the resources necessary to advance and apply the principles and methods of problem-solving courts in the general state court systems.
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| References:
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- America's Law Enforcement and Mental Health Project (P.L. 106-515)
- Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2003 (S. 2778)
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Support
Materials:
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No additional materials
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Appropriations
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State Justice Institute (SJI) Appropriations
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| Impact: |
SJI is the only source of federal help for state courts that addresses all case types and issues.
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| Summary: |
Thanks to a broad-based grassroots campaign, SJI staved off elimination in FY 2003. We plan to build on this achievement by once again asking the Congress and the Administration to award SJI a significant funding amount for FY 2004. The SJI is the only independent, federally funded entity that is authorized to assist the state courts to address the unique issues raised for the state judiciary by federal legislation in criminal, civil, juvenile and family law. SJI continues to serve this and many other important national interests, not the least of which is the promotion of Federal-State judicial cooperation. Over the last few years, federal funding for state law enforcement and corrections programs increased five fold to over $5 billion. At the same time, funding for the only state court-related program, SJI, has dropped from $10 million to $6.85 million.
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| Position: |
Congress should provide $13 million for SJI for FY 2004.
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| References:
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- Consolidated budget bill for FY 2003 (P.L. 108-7)
- CCJ Resolution 16
- COSCA Resolution 02-B-4
- SJI Talking Points, February 2003
- For information on grants to states go to: www.statejustice.org
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Support
Materials:
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No additional materials
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Appropriations
| Issue:
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Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act
(SANCA) Appropriations
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| Impact: |
The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) placed additional responsibilities on courts to monitor and expedite the return of foster children to safe homes or the termination of parental rights so that the children are available for adoption.
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| Summary: |
Senators Mike DeWine (R-OH) introduced S. 2272, Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act (SANCA) of 2000. S. 2272 recognized the added pressure of the ASFA requirements and time-lines on overburdened courts. S. 2272 had three components: (1) competitive grants to reduce backlogged abuse and neglect cases; (2) competitive grants for state and local courts for automated case tracking systems; and (3) expansion of the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program to underserved areas.
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| Position: |
State courts support the availability of targeted federal funding to assist courts to implement the new ASFA responsibilities assigned to them by Congress.
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| References:
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- Adoption & Safe Families Act of 1997 (P.L. 105-89)
- Strengthening Abuse and Neglect Courts Act of 2000 (P.L. 106-314)
- CCJ Resolution 02-M-10
- COSCA Resolution 01-M-III
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Support
Materials:
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No additional materials
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National Center for State Courts
Government Relations Office
2425 Wilson Blvd., Suite 350, Arlington, VA 22201
Phone (800) 532-0204 Fax (703) 841-0206
Questions or Comments - email govrel@ncsc.dni.us
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© 2002 The National Center for State
Courts. All Rights Reserved. |
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