Management Services Division

Data Dissemination Administration

AUTHORITY
Washington Constitution Article 1, sections 7 and 10; Court Rules – GR 31, GR 15, GR 22, JISC 12 and 15; RCW 2.68.050; Judicial Information Systems Committee Data Dissemination Policy.

OVERVIEW
The Data Dissemination Administrator (DDA) reviews all requests for court records from the public and government agencies to ensure that the judicial entity releasing the court records is complying with access to court records policy set forth in the Washington Constitution, court rule, and case law.  The DDA must ensure that judicial entities promote the right of the public to open access to court records, but balance this right against an individual’s right to privacy.  All queries for access to JIS records are reviewed by the DDA prior to release of JIS records.  The DDA also staffs and supports the JISC – Data Dissemination Committee writing legal memorandums, preparing policies, and drafting court rules.  The DDA prepares and executes research contracts for all research requests. 

The Data Dissemination Administrator prepares, executes, and monitors all contracts with vendors for downloads of the different JIS public indexes available to the public for subscription. The AOC currently has five electronic standard public indexes available on a subscription basis.

1. Public SCOMIS (Superior Court) Criminal Index:  This index is available at a cost of $1,800 per year.  It contains data for Criminal (Case Type 01) and Juvenile Offender (Case Type 08) cases. 
2. Public Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Civil Index:  This index is available at a cost of $1,800 per year.  It contains data for Civil (CV) and Small Claims (SC) cases. 
3. Public Courts of Limited Jurisdiction Criminal Index:  This index is available at a cost of $1,800 per year. It contains data for case types Criminal Non-Traffic (CN) and Criminal Traffic (CT). 
4. Public SCOMIS (Superior Court) Civil and Criminal Index:  This index is available at a cost of $840 per year.  It is produced every six months with weekly updates.  It contains data for Criminal, Civil, Domestic, Probate, Juvenile Offender, and Judgment cases. 
5. Probate Filing Index:  This index is available at a cost of $600 per year.  It is produced monthly and contains the prior month's probate filings.

CURRENT TRENDS
Data Dissemination and privacy complaints are becoming more frequent as access to the internet has become mainstream and people are using technology to obtain information that used to require a trip to the court house.
 
CONTACT:
Data Dissemination Administrator