This bill directs the administrative office of the courts (AOC) to define and develop a centralized system of case management, document management, electronic case filing, electronic payment methods, data reporting, and any other capability deemed necessary for collection and reporting of all state and local court public case level data. The system may consist of software solutions capable of integrating with existing state and local systems to report case dispositions, statistics, and other related data with the goal that information in such system should be easily reportable, retrievable, accessible, and uniform and consistent throughout the state. The development of the centralized system must include projections for ongoing costs and maintenance of such a system.
REPORT OF PROGRESS
Beginning on January 31, 2025, and every six months thereafter until initial implementation of the system, this bill requires the AOC to submit a written update as to the progress of the development to the speakers and chief clerks of each house of the general assembly; the governor; the chairs of the finance, ways and means committees of the house of representatives and senate; the chair of the civil justice committee of the house of representatives; the chair of the judiciary committee of the senate; and the office of legislative budget analysis.
INSTALLATION AND MAINTENANCE OF SYSTEM BY COURT CLERKS
Present law requires the installation and maintenance of the Tennessee court information system (TnCIS) as provided by the AOC or a functionally equivalent computer system. The implementation of TnCIS in the offices of the court clerks must be determined by the TnCIS steering committee and be based on the availability of adequate funding. The TnCIS software must be made available to all offices of court clerks.
This bill removes the above provisions and provides, instead, that it is the duty of the clerk of each of the courts to install and maintain the court information system as provided by the AOC that will collect and report electronically all data required under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 11, Section II, or otherwise statutorily mandated, and that the AOC must provide for the necessary data transfers with other state agencies as defined by the AOC or as statutorily required.
CONVERSION OF EXISTING SYSTEMS
Present law provides that any court clerk office having a significant investment in an existing computer system is not required to acquire a new computer system, or to modify or convert an existing system to utilize the TnCIS software as long as those court clerk offices maintain a computer system that will report electronically all data required under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 11, Section II, or otherwise statutorily mandated, and the AOC provides for the necessary data transfers with other state agencies as defined by the AOC or as statutorily required.
This bill removes the above provisions and provides, instead, that until the AOC has completed the development of the system described in this bill, court clerk offices must maintain existing court information computer systems and report electronically all data required under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 11, Section II, or otherwise statutorily mandated. This bill also requires the AOC to provide each court clerk with a list of the data that is required under Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 11, Section II or state law.
AVAILABILITY OF THE SYSTEM
When the AOC has completed the development of the system described above, this bill requires that the system must be made available to all offices of court clerks, including those offices previously automated and those offices within Shelby, Davidson, Knox, and Hamilton counties, and those offices shall adopt and convert to the new system on a schedule to be determined in consultation with the AOC.

Statutes affected:
Introduced: 18-1-105(d), 18-1-105