JIS Data Dissemination Committee

June 30, 2000

Friday June 30, 2000
Meeting Minutes

Attendees:

JIS Data Dissemination Subcommittee Members:
Judge C. Kenneth Grosse, Chair
Judge James R. Heller
Judge Thomas Wynne
Judge Clifford Stilz
Siri Woods

Guests:
Justice Bobbe J. Bridge
Judge Dale Ramerman
David Cuillier, The (Everett) Herald
Diana Kramer, Washington Newspaper Publishers Association
Tom Boyer, Seattle Times
Rowland Thompson, Allied Daily Newspapers
Mike Killeen, Davis, Wright, Tremaine
Mark Weiss, WSBA Family Law Section
Dennis Hausman, DIS Justice Information Network
Yolande Williams, Seattle Municipal Court Administrator
Aldo Melchiori, Counsel for Senate Judiciary & Education Committees

Staff:
Tom Clarke
Brian Backus
Lynne Alfasso
Katherine Kuriyama
Alan Erickson

Minutes

1. Minutes

   The minutes of the May 5, 2000 meeting were approved as written.

2. AGO/DSHS amended JIS Link Contract

   Ms. Kuriyama reported that a draft contract had been sent to the AG's Office for their review.

3. Listserv participants

   Mr. Backus invited people to subscribe to OAC's Data Dissemination Policy Discussion listserv by giving him their name and e-mail address.

4. Expanded Standard Public Index

   Mr. Backus reported that the programming for the Expanded Standard Public Index is in process.

   Ms. Williams presented the privacy concerns that Seattle Municipal Court has with the possible JIS public index release of criminal defendant home addresses, particularly traffic infraction defendant home addresses. Seattle Municipal Court does not make available defendant addresses in a compiled format from their database. Ms. Williams was concerned about the effect the subcommittee's decision would have on Seattle Municipal Court's policy. Mr. Erickson pointed out that the downloads of data from Seattle Municipal Court to JIS contain address information and other personal identifiers. These downloads of information contain only misdemeanor cases. The subcommittee discussed how their decision regarding the address fields in the new public index would not have an impact on Seattle Municipal Court's policy.

   Criminal Defendant Address Issue-The subcommittee had a broad discussion on this issue. Judge Stilz indicated that there is a need to mask at least part of the address in situations where someone needs protection-safety concerns. Mr. Clarke indicated DOH releases data aggregated by zip code unless there are too few cases in a zip code. Mr. Boyer indicated that DOH will release address information with an agreement. Ms. Woods asked if the courts should treat civil litigants differently from criminal defendants. Judge Grosse suggested that civil litigant information should be treated differently. He indicated that there should be little public interest in addresses per se for traffic cases.

   It was suggested that the index have only the criminal defendant zip code, which is not a person specific identifier. Concern was raised that using the last four digits of the zip code might provide a unique identifier in some circumstances.

   There was a motion to provide only the criminal defendant's first five digits of a zip code. The motion was seconded and passed. The subcommittee agreed to table the domestic violence victim address issue for further discussion at another meeting.

5. Report on the National Conference on Privacy, Technology and Criminal Justice Information

   Judge Stilz presented a report on the National Conference on Privacy, Technology and Criminal Justice System with an emphasis on the survey "Public Attitudes Toward Uses of Criminal History Information" prepared by the Opinion Research Corporation for the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice and SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. He also discussed the Fair Credit Reporting Act and how certain provisions such as the notice provision, right of review and error correction, and impartial complaint resolution process should be incorporated into the proposed comprehensive rule.

   A discussion followed the report. Judge Wynne suggested that the courts may need to consider biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints as a unique person identifier. Mr. Clarke noted that the integrated justice systems are going the fingerprint route. Judge Grosse suggested that courts could adopt a policy that requires a biometric identifier before a record is accepted. He requested that a report on the state of the art of fingerprints be presented at the next meeting.

   Diana Kramer commented that the use of the information, not the access to information, should be restricted. Concern was raised that the number of prosecutions for identity theft were limited. The subcommittee suggested that a few of the subcommittee members should talk to the Prosecutors Association about this issue.

6. Specific Requests for Access
   1. Request for waiver of JIS-LINK fee-letter from Brad Hendrickson, on behalf of Senator Jeri Costa. The subcommittee discussed the waiver and ask OAC to negotiate a fee waiver for the highest level of Leg-Link for interested Judges and OAC.
   2. Request for authorization to restore archived court files-letter from J. Reiko Callner, Investigative officer from the Judicial Conduct Commission. The subcommittee discussed the need for such authorization. Judge Stilz indicated that he had worked with J. Reiko Callner and felt comfortable with the investigators having the ability to restore archived cases. The subcommittee agreed to give the Commission's two full-time investigators the ability to restore archived files for the purposes stated in the letter.
   3. Request for access to ICH screen-letter from Andy Miller, Benton County Prosecuting Attorney. The subcommittee discussed the sensitive information contained in the Individual Case History screen and how the prosecutor's office could contact the court or law enforcement agencies to gather information. Other members suggested that this also raised a compilation issue. The request was denied.
   4. Request for JASS update capabilities for certain Lewis County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney's staff-letter from Nettie Jungers, Lewis County Clerk. The subcommittee discussed the clerk taking responsibility for this type of access. The request was denied.
   5. Request for JUVIS Detention "view only" access for a Kitsap County Sheriff's Department staff person-letter from Nancy Wilson, Juvenile Court Site Coordinator. The subcommittee discussed having the administrator take responsibility for this type of access. Suggested the administrator ask for read only access for this person.
7. Proposed Changes to GR-15

   Judge Ramerman reported on the status of the proposed changes to GR-15. Judge Grosse indicated that the proposed changes were being brought back to the subcommittee for further discussion. Justice Bridge reported on what happened at the Supreme Court Rules Committee meeting. Ms. Woods stated that the Clerks support the proposed changes. Mr. Thompson took the same position as Judge Fleck on the identity theft issue but did not support the presumptive closing of classes of court files because of potentially embarrassing, misleading, or spiteful materials contained in them. Mr. Thompson suggested a standardized motion for closure of some portion of the documents filed with the trial court. Ms. Woods indicated that it is not practical for the clerks to go through the court files and sort out what is confidential. Mr. Weiss presented the Washington State Bar Association Family Law Section's perspective and concerns. He also provided the subcommittee with a draft of proposed legislation to deal with the issues and concerns of the Family Law Section that would compliment the proposed rule change. Mr. Weiss requested that people submit comments on the draft to him. Judge Ramerman suggested that the electronic records could be restricted but keep access to the courthouse files. Mr. Weiss requested that the paper as well as Internet access should be closed. Mr. Killeen pointed out that some of the same issues and concerns are found in other categories of cases such as employment cases. Judge Ramerman suggested that only the petition, responses, orders, and clerk's minutes be made available on line.

   The subcommittee agreed to a redraft of the proposed rule changes. They agreed that if courts put court files on line, that for family law cases, only the petition, response, clerk's minutes and court orders be made available on line. Judge Ramerman, Judge Wynne, and Mr. Killeen agreed to work on the revised version of the proposed rule changes. The redraft will need to be done by mid-September in order to get if before the Supreme Court October 11, 2000 En Banc session.

8. Proposed Public Access to Court Records Rule

   The discussion on this item was deferred until our next meeting. Ms. Kuriyama requested that written comments be e-mailed to: dda@courts.wa.gov. She will compile the comments and provide a table of comments by category for the next meeting.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be at 10:00 A.M. on July 28, 2000, Room 1606, Two Union Square, Seattle, Washington.