HR4602-119

What This Bill Does

The Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act amends the State Justice Institute Act. It defines an eligible organization as a national nonprofit with technical assistance and training expertise in state and local judicial security, courthouse design and security standards, state judicial operations and public access, and experience with trial, appellate, rural, and limited-jurisdiction courts. It then adds a State Justice Institute grant or support authority to provide financial and technical support for eligible organizations to establish, implement, and operate a State judicial threat intelligence and resource center. The center must train judicial officers, courts, and local law enforcement; create judicial-security resources and guides; provide physical security assessments for courts, homes, and other court-related facilities; proactively monitor threats to state and local judges and court staff; coordinate with federal, state, and local law enforcement; develop standardized incident reporting and threat evaluation practices with law enforcement and fusion centers; create a national database for threat reporting, tracking, and sharing; and coordinate research on best practices. The State Justice Institute must report annually, starting one year after the center is established, to the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on the number, type, and seriousness of threats to state and local judiciary members and court staff.

Who Benefits and How

State judges benefit from training, threat monitoring, physical security assessments, and law-enforcement coordination. Local court staff benefit from threat intelligence and standardized incident reporting. Eligible judicial-security nonprofits benefit from financial and technical support to operate the center. State court systems benefit from a national database and best-practices research for judicial security.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The State Justice Institute must fund or support the center and submit annual threat reports to judiciary committees. Eligible organizations must operate training, monitoring, database, assessment, and coordination functions. Law enforcement agencies must coordinate with the center on threat mitigation and incident reporting. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of financial support provided through the State Justice Institute.

Key Provisions

• Defines eligible organizations for state and local judicial-security technical assistance.
• Creates State Justice Institute support for a State judicial threat intelligence and resource center.
• Requires training, resources, physical security assessments, threat monitoring, and law-enforcement coordination.
• Requires standardized incident reporting, threat evaluation practices, and a national threat database.
• Requires annual reports to House and Senate Judiciary Committees on threat numbers, types, and seriousness.