H.R. 4602 — Countering Threats and Attacks on Our Judges Act

This section adds to the definitions in the State Justice Institute Act of 1984 the term "eligible organization," meaning a national nonprofit organization that—(1) provides technical assistance and training on, and has expertise and national-level experience in, judicial security and safety at the State and local levels; (2) has experience in courthouse design and courthouse security design standards; (3) has an understanding of State judicial operations and public access to judicial services; and (4) has experience working with a wide array of different judges and court systems, including an understanding of the challenges facing trial courts, appellate courts, rural courts, and limited-jurisdiction courts at the State and local levels. (The State Justice Institute awards grants to improve the quality of justice in state courts, judicial branches, and related organizations.)

This section expands the grant purposes of the State Justice Institute (SJI)—which supports improvements to state judicial administration, education, and operations—by authorizing awards of financial and technical support to eligible organizations for establishing, implementing, and operating a State judicial threat intelligence and resource center to (1) provide technical assistance and training on judicial security, including judicial officer safety education for judges, courts, and law enforcement; resources and guides on judicial security; and physical security assessments for courts, judges' homes, and other facilities; (2) proactively monitor threats to state and local judges and court staff; (3) coordinate with federal, state, and local law enforcement to mitigate such threats; (4) develop standardized incident reporting and threat evaluation practices for state and local courts, in coordination with law enforcement and fusion centers; (5) develop a national database for reporting, tracking, and sharing threat and incident information with judicial security entities, including law enforcement and fusion centers; and (6) coordinate research on best practices for judicial security.

This section directs the State Justice Institute to submit to the Senate and House Committees on the Judiciary, not later than one year after the establishment of a State judicial threat intelligence and resource center and annually thereafter, a report on the number of threats to state and local judiciary members and court staff, including breakdowns by type of threat and level of seriousness.