JTAC oversight committee sets initial meeting

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The first meeting of the committee created by the Legislature to oversee the Indiana Supreme Court’s technology initiatives – chief among them continued implementation of the Odyssey case management system – will take place Tuesday morning.

The Judicial Technology Oversight Committee chaired by Justice Mark Massa will meet at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 17 in the court administration offices on the fifth floor at 30 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis. The meeting is open to the public, but those attending must check in at the first floor security desk.

Created by House Enrolled Act 1393, signed into law this year by Gov. Mike Pence, the 11-member committee is tasked with studying IT applications for the court and developing long-range strategies for judicial technology and automation.

Along with creating the committee, HEA 1393 also raised the automated record-keeping fee on most court filings from $5 to $7 for two years. The increase is expected to raise an estimated $1.9 million annually, the bulk of which would go to the Judicial Technology and Automation Committee of the Division of State Court Administration.

The increase restored funding, reduced by lawmakers in a prior session, is meant primarily to fund expansion of Odyssey.

The measure was sponsored by Rep. Greg Steuerwald, R-Avon, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. When Pence signed the legislation, Steuerwald said it would “create an improved system to allow Indiana courts to communicate with one another, produce better access to vital information and save taxpayers’ money. This legislation is fiscally smart and will benefit Hoosier county courts.”

More than 150 courts in at least half the state’s 92 counties have adopted Odyssey, and many more courts are on a waiting list to switch. There is no mandate, however, that courts adopt the state’s system.

The fee increase adopted this year allows non-Odyssey counties to keep a portion of the fee to defray costs of their case management systems. Counties using Odyssey don’t pay the state to use the system.

Along with Massa, other members of the committee are: Paul Baltzell, chief information officer of the Indiana Office of Technology; Sen. John Broden, D-South Bend; Sen. Sue Glick, R- Lagrange; Rep. Steve Braun, R-Zionsville, Rep. Matt Pierce, D-Bloomington; Floyd Circuit Judge J. Terrence Cody; Marshall County Clerk Julie Fox; Henry County Clerk Debra Walker; Bose McKinney & Evans LLP partner David Pippen; and Mark Dobson, president & CEO of the Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce.

 
 

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