E-SERVICE Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2397 To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to State and Tribal courts in order to allow the electronic service of certain court orders, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 31, 2019 Mr. SULLIVAN (for himself and Mr. COONS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To authorize the Attorney General to make grants to State and Tribal courts in order to allow the electronic service of certain court orders, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electronic Service for 4 Effectiveness, Reduction of Violence, and Improved Court 5 Efficiency Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘E-SERVICE Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 2397 IS SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATE AND TRIBAL COURTS TO IMPLE- 1 MENT PROTECTION ORDER PILOT PRO- 2 GRAMS. 3 Part U of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 4 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10461 et seq.) is 5 amended— 6 (1) by redesignating sections 2103, 2104, and 7 2105 as sections 2104, 2105, and 2106, respectively; 8 and 9 (2) by inserting after section 2102 the fol- 10 lowing: 11 ‘‘SEC. 2103. GRANTS TO STATE AND TRIBAL COURTS TO IM- 12 PLEMENT PROTECTION ORDER PILOT PRO- 13 GRAMS. 14 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this sec- 15 tion, the term ‘eligible entity’ means a State or tribal court 16 that is part of a multidisciplinary partnership that in- 17 cludes, to the extent practicable— 18 ‘‘(1) State, tribal, or local law enforcement 19 agency; 20 ‘‘(2) a State, tribal, or local prosecutor advocate 21 group; 22 ‘‘(3) a victim service provider or State or tribal 23 domestic violence coalition; 24 ‘‘(4) a nonprofit program or government agency 25 with demonstrated experience in providing legal as- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 2397 IS sistance or legal advice to victims of domestic vio- 1 lence and sexual assault; 2 ‘‘(5) the bar association of the applicable State 3 or Indian Tribe; 4 ‘‘(6) the State or tribal association of court 5 clerks; 6 ‘‘(7) a State, tribal, or local association of 7 criminal defense attorneys; 8 ‘‘(8) not fewer than 2 individuals with expertise 9 in the design and management of court case man- 10 agement systems and systems of integration; 11 ‘‘(9) not fewer than 2 State or tribal court 12 judges with experience in— 13 ‘‘(A) the field of domestic violence; and 14 ‘‘(B) issuing protective orders; and 15 ‘‘(10) a judge assigned to the criminal docket of 16 the State or tribal court. 17 ‘‘(b) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In addition to grants au- 19 thorized under section 2101, the Attorney General 20 shall make grants to eligible entities to carry out the 21 activities described in subsection (c) of this section. 22 ‘‘(2) NUMBER.—The Attorney General may 23 award not more than 10 grants under paragraph 24 (1). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 2397 IS ‘‘(3) AMOUNT.—The amount of a grant award- 1 ed under paragraph (1) may be not more than 2 $1,500,000. 3 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY ACTIVITIES.— 4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity that re- 5 ceives a grant under this section shall use the grant 6 funds, in consultation with the partners required 7 under subsection (a), to— 8 ‘‘(A) develop and implement a program for 9 properly and legally serving protection orders 10 through electronic communication methods to— 11 ‘‘(i) modernize the service process and 12 make the process more effective and effi- 13 cient; 14 ‘‘(ii) provide for improved safety of 15 victims; and 16 ‘‘(iii) make protection orders enforce- 17 able as quickly as possible; 18 ‘‘(B) develop best practices relating to the 19 service of protection orders through electronic 20 communication methods; 21 ‘‘(C) ensure that the program developed 22 under subparagraph (A) complies with due 23 process requirements and any other procedures 24 required by law or by a court; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 2397 IS ‘‘(D) implement any technology necessary 1 to carry out the program developed under sub- 2 paragraph (A), such as technology to verify and 3 track the receipt of a protection order by the 4 intended party. 5 ‘‘(2) TIMELINE.—An eligible entity that re- 6 ceives a grant under this section shall— 7 ‘‘(A) implement the program required 8 under paragraph (1)(A) not later than 2 years 9 after receiving the grant; and 10 ‘‘(B) carry out the program for not fewer 11 than 3 years. 12 ‘‘(d) DIVERSITY OF RECIPIENTS.—The Attorney 13 General shall award grants under this section to eligible 14 entities in a variety of areas and situations, including— 15 ‘‘(1) a State court that serves a population of 16 not fewer than 1,000,000 individuals; 17 ‘‘(2) a State court that— 18 ‘‘(A) serves a State that is among the 7 19 States with the lowest population density in the 20 United States; and 21 ‘‘(B) has a relatively low rate of successful 22 service with respect to protection orders, as de- 23 termined by the Attorney General; 24 ‘‘(3) a State court that— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 2397 IS ‘‘(A) serves a State that is among the 7 1 States with the highest population density in 2 the United States; and 3 ‘‘(B) has a relatively low rate of successful 4 service with respect to protection orders, as de- 5 termined by the Attorney General; 6 ‘‘(4) a court that uses an integrated, statewide 7 case management system; 8 ‘‘(5) a court that uses a standalone case man- 9 agement system; 10 ‘‘(6) a tribal court; and 11 ‘‘(7) a court that serves a culturally specific 12 and underserved population. 13 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity shall sub- 15 mit an application to the Attorney General that in- 16 cludes— 17 ‘‘(A) a description of the process that the 18 eligible entity uses for service of protection or- 19 ders at the time of submission of the applica- 20 tion; 21 ‘‘(B) to the extent practicable, statistics re- 22 lating to protection orders during the 3 cal- 23 endar years preceding the date of submission of 24 the application, including rates of— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 2397 IS ‘‘(i) successful service; and 1 ‘‘(ii) enforcement; 2 ‘‘(C) an initial list of the entities serving as 3 the partners required under subsection (a); and 4 ‘‘(D) any other information the Attorney 5 General may reasonably require. 6 ‘‘(2) NO OTHER APPLICATION REQUIRED.—An 7 eligible entity shall not be required to submit an ap- 8 plication under section 2102 to receive a grant 9 under this section. 10 ‘‘(f) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—Notwithstanding sec- 11 tion 40002(b)(11) of the Violence Against Women Act of 12 1994 (34 U.S.C. 12291(b)(11)), as applied under section 13 2106 of this part, not less than 5 percent and not more 14 than 8 percent of the total amounts appropriated to carry 15 out this section shall be available to the Attorney General 16 for technical assistance relating to the purposes of this 17 section. 18 ‘‘(g) REPORT TO ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 19 ‘‘(1) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 2 years 20 after receiving a grant under this section, an eligible 21 entity shall submit to the Attorney General a report 22 that details the plan of the entity for implementation 23 of the program under subsection (c). 24 ‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT REPORTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 2397 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year 1 after implementing the program under sub- 2 section (c), and not later than 2 years there- 3 after, an eligible entity shall submit to the At- 4 torney General a report that describes the pro- 5 gram implemented under subsection (c), includ- 6 ing with respect to— 7 ‘‘(i) viability; 8 ‘‘(ii) cost; 9 ‘‘(iii) service statistics; 10 ‘‘(iv) challenges; 11 ‘‘(v) analysis of the technology used to 12 fulfill the goals of the program; 13 ‘‘(vi) analysis of any legal or due proc- 14 ess issues resulting from the electronic 15 service method described in subsection 16 (c)(1)(A); and 17 ‘‘(vii) best practices for implementing 18 such a program in other similarly situated 19 locations. 20 ‘‘(B) CONTENTS OF FINAL REPORT.—An 21 eligible entity shall include in the second report 22 submitted under subparagraph (A) rec- 23 ommendations for— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 2397 IS ‘‘(i) future nationwide implementation 1 of the program implemented by the eligible 2 entity; and 3 ‘‘(ii) usage of electronic service, simi- 4 lar to the service used by the eligible enti- 5 ty, for other commonly used court orders, 6 including with respect to viability and cost. 7 ‘‘(h) NO REGULATIONS OR GUIDELINES RE- 8 QUIRED.—Notwithstanding section 2105, the Attorney 9 General shall not be required to publish regulations or 10 guidelines implementing this section. 11 ‘‘(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi- 12 tion to amounts otherwise made available to carry out this 13 part, there is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 14 this section $10,000,000 for fiscal years 2019 through 15 2024.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:51 Aug 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2397.IS S2397 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS