Judicial branch presses Legislature for ongoing funding to finish statewide case management system

Chief Justice Clement told the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Corrections and Judiciary on May 20 that the State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) is continuing a multi‑year effort to put Michigan trial courts on a single statewide case management system and is requesting ongoing funding to maintain and expand the system.

The request follows a 2022 bipartisan, one-time appropriation of $150,000,000 to build the technology infrastructure for a statewide case management solution, Clement said. SCAO’s outside experts concluded that the existing Judicial Information System (JIS) is an appropriate platform to serve as the statewide system. As of Feb. 12, 2025, SCAO reported 250 of 302 trial courts using JIS—69 circuit courts, 107 district courts and 74 probate courts—with additional courts committed or in discussion.

Why it matters: Clement said a statewide system will produce consistent, reliable data for policy and budget decisions; reduce duplicative local licensing and IT costs; expand online court services; and allow better integration with law enforcement, corrections and other agencies. SCAO estimates annual local savings of more than $700,000 in three mid‑to‑large counties studied after moving from private vendors to JIS.

Clement said SCAO has spent or obligated about $65,000,000 of the $150,000,000 and has roughly $85,000,000 remaining to finish onboarding the larger, more complex jurisdictions. Because one‑time funds do not cover long‑term operations, SCAO is requesting $7,200,000 in ongoing funds to scale staffing, maintain computing resources and support the statewide rollout. She noted SCAO originally requested $38,000,000 in ongoing funding in 2022 but did not receive that amount. "Ongoing funding is necessary to ensure the system is maintained and supported into the future," Clement said.

Clement described two primary hurdles to migration: messy historical data (data migration across approximately 12 different systems, including five homegrown systems) and local costs and court capacity to support onboarding. To mitigate those hurdles, SCAO offers reimbursement to local funding units for overtime or temporary staff costs during migrations.

Other SCAO priorities: Clement used the hearing to outline additional ongoing budget requests to expand SCAO capacity across several areas: - Field services: three FTEs for outreach, plain‑language court forms and expanded diversion programming (MiResolve) to reduce litigant burdens and speed case resolution. - Finance and HR: additional staff to implement four‑year audits of trial courts (about 61 audits per year) and strengthen HR operations; Clement said improved audits have uncovered improper financial practices in the past. - Michigan Judicial Institute: more staff to meet growing mandatory education needs for judges and court personnel. - Legal editor/reporter of decisions: one position to reduce backlog in published Court of Appeals opinions (Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals also endorsed this request). - Grants officer: make a temporary grant‑management role permanent to pursue and steward federal grants; Clement said federal funding is monitored closely and SCAO may need to return with re‑prioritization if federal dollars change. - Michigan Legal Help: additional funding to sustain the self‑help platform, which had over 3,000,000 visitors last fiscal year; SCAO said more than 50,000 users completed DIY forms and nearly 40,000 were for personal protection orders. - Problem‑solving courts: support to manage increasing applications (Clement said SCAO expects roughly 15 new program applications this year), and continuing evaluation that graduates are less likely to reoffend.

Clement said SCAO continues to expand transparency tools (interactive dashboards, a virtual courtroom directory) and e‑filing (MiFILE), noting nearly 30,000 new registered MiFILE users and roughly 1 million more e‑filed documents than the prior year. She also described juvenile justice implementation steps taken after a bipartisan juvenile justice reform package took effect last year, including a juvenile office in SCAO’s child welfare division, new probation standards, assessment tools, and training for nearly 400 individuals.

Questions from senators focused on risks if federal grants decline, the difference between one‑time and ongoing funding, and practical migration challenges for large counties. Clement said SCAO will keep monitoring federal funding and return to the Legislature if priorities must be rebalanced.

Ending: Clement closed by offering further follow‑up materials on work projects and thanked the subcommittee for continued consideration. The subcommittee did not take a formal vote on SCAO’s ongoing request during this hearing.