Sheila Jackson Lee: “I rise in support of H.R. 2714, the State Justice Institute Reauthorization Act of 2003. I worked with my colleagues on…”

“I rise in support of H.R. 2714, the State Justice Institute Reauthorization Act of 2003. I worked with my colleagues on the House Judiciary committee to mark this bill up in September of last year, and I offered my support at that time. This bill will authorize the operations of the State Justice Institute (SJI) for Fiscal Years 2005-08 and proposes to allocate grant money to state courts and other entities that support their operation. I understand that this bill has not been reauthorized since 1996, so this bill is indeed timely, as the need certainly does exist. Since its inception in 1984 and operation in 1987, the SJI's $125 million in grants and $40 million in private and other public funds have played a role in making the state court system in Houston an efficient engine of the administration of justice of which we Houstonians are quite proud. Given the urgent need for us to allocate energy and resources to our critical infrastructure and to the first responders in the context of Homeland security, the insurgence of funds to improve the overall flow of work through the state court systems is extremely important.”