Sponsors: By House Committee on Technology, Telecommunications & Energy (originally sponsored by Representatives Ruderman, Anderson, Sullivan, Miloscia, Schual-Berke, Conway, O'Brien and Lovick).

Brief Summary of Substitute Bill

• Establishes the Washington Integrated Justice Information Board to plan and develop a single automated source for justice information.

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 17 members: Representatives Morris, Chair; Ruderman, Vice Chair; Sullivan, Vice Chair; Crouse, Ranking Minority Member; Nixon, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Anderson, Blake, Bush, DeBolt, Delvin, Hudgins, Kirby, McMahan, Romero, Tom, Wallace and Wood.

State and local government criminal justice entities store and track the justice information they generate. This information is entered into systems that allow law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, and corrections officials access to justice information for background checks. There is no single source for statewide criminal justice information.

Justice information is stored on several different systems. Law enforcement and criminal justice entities search these systems to obtain criminal background and justice information on individuals. A complete, statewide justice information check requires separate searches of each individual system.

The Washington Integrated Justice Information Board (Board) is established to plan and develop a statewide justice information network.

The Board is composed of 22 members from law enforcement, local government, the courts, and the executive branch. The Board will coordinate and facilitate the development of an automated, single source for justice information that will deliver complete, accurate, and timely justice information.

The Board will report to the Governor, the Supreme Court, and the Legislature by September 1, 2004, (and at least every two years thereafter) with recommendations for changes and appropriations necessary to establish this system.

Effective Date: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For: This bill sets up the structure for all concerned entities to develop a more integrated, usable justice information system. Cooperation between concerned entities has been going on for some time. Establishing the Board will formalize this process. The Board will have the authority to make decisions and will be held accountable for those decisions.

The criminal justice system still uses systems that require a lot of paperwork and entering the same information, multiple times, into different computer systems. Planning a system that connects the systems already in place reduces paperwork. Minimizing duplicated efforts will produce a network that is more efficient, more accurate, and enhance public safety.

The use of technology has already helped the justice system become more responsive and has increased public safety. The resources already spent on justice information systems will go farther if they are all used in a common plan.

The systems and laws already in place will ensure that the information on these systems is secure and accessible only for proper purposes.

Testified: Representative Ruderman, prime sponsor; Stuart McKee, Department of Information Services and The Criminal Justice Information Act Executive Committee; Sherry Appleton, Washington Defenders Association and Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Glenn Cramer, Washington State Patrol; Mary McQueen, Administrator for the Courts; and Larry Erickson, Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.