Supreme Court of Appeals of WV Records Improvement Project

The NICS Improvement Amendments Act of 2007, P. L. 110-180 ("NIAA"), was initially signed into law by the President on January 8, 2008 (reauthorized by Title VI of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018, P.L. 115-141). The NIAA amends the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993 ("the Brady Act") (Pub. L. 103-159), under which the Attorney General established the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The Brady Act requires Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) to contact the NICS before transferring a firearm to an unlicensed person for information on whether the proposed transferee is prohibited from receiving or possessing a firearm under state or federal law. The NIAA authorizes grants to be made in a manner consistent with the National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP).

Under the FY 20 NARIP project, the West Virginia Supreme Court will use funds to conduct the following goals:

The WV Supreme Court of Appeals (WV SCA) will use funds to: 1) Continue funding the Mental Health Registry Data Quality Manager to provide oversight and training to all direct system users of the Centralized State Mental Health Registry (CSMHR). The DQ Manager will: continue to provide training to mental hygiene commissioners, judicial officers, and staff; and develop and implement training, manuals, and materials with regard to the CSMHR.

The WV SCA will continue efforts to maintain or exceed 98% compliance with FBI standards for submission of records with a mental health component to the NICS. This will be accomplished by: ensuring the integrity of both the electronic capture and the conceptual and procedural delivery of data collection from the field by ensuring that system users upload required documentation to the CSMHR within the time periods set forth in law.

The WV SCA will continue supporting temporary Mental Health Abstractors to audit qualifying mental health case files and orders in four counties by the end of the grant cycle and submit required prohibiting mental health records to the NICS.

The WV SCA will continue efforts to automate the criminal record creation process in WV to ensure the integrated functioning of record improvement initiatives and to implement improved criminal information capture procedures. The WV SCA will convert at least 100,000 paper criminal case files in circuit court from 1992-2016 to electronic records and implement a memorandum of understanding between the circuit clerks offices and the Administrative Office of the Courts

The WV SCA will also use funds to bulk scan and upload all paper criminal case files in two large counties from 1992-2016 to allow electronic access and purchase a livescan fingerprint machine to be located in or near the courthouse to capture electronic prints, direct indictments, and pleas of information at the time of arrest. (CA/NCF)