What is the original authority for the statewide Judicial Information System (JIS) and the Superior Court Management Information System (SCOMIS)?


The rule establishing JIS is the Judicial Information System Committee (JISC) Rule 1 - Judicial Information System.

The rule establishing SCOMIS is JISC Rule 18 - Adding Records to the Judicial Information System.


Following is an excerpt from the Requirements Survey: Judicial Information System Superior Court Management System, dated September 1976:

The Supreme Court in 1973 instructed the Administrator for the Courts to develop a program to meet the information management needs of the Washington courts. To this end, the Judicial Information System (JIS) is being established as a tool to assist in the administration of justice in Washington's courts through the retrieval and processing of information. Several substantial benefits are anticipated from the system.

  • Provide each court jurisdiction with the operational information necessary for its effective administration;
  • Improve the courts' capability to meet the statutory requirement for reporting judicial information to the Supreme court, Legislature, Executive branch, and citizens of the state of Washington;
  • Collect dependable statistical information upon which the judiciary can base its requests for operating funds;
  • Better analyze and evaluate courts' performance and workloads so as to plan for increased productivity; and
  • Provide appropriate information to external agencies or systems, including the Federal Government's Offender Based Tracking System and Computerized Criminal History program, a requirement for any state which has received federal Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) funding.

RN id: 1602