mr. chairman , reclaiming my time , i thank the distinguished chairman for his support . 
let me conclude by simply saying again i remind colleagues i hope that some day we will be able to discuss the good time early relief bill that speaks to the question of individuals languishing in federal prisons who have been nonviolent and would welcome this discussion and this legislation . 
i am grateful for this amendment , and i ask my colleagues to support the amendment . 
mr. chairman , i rise to offer an amendment to h.r. 1751 , the secure access to justice and court protection act of 2005 . 
before doing so , i want to thank the chairman and the ranking minority member of the house judiciary committee for their efforts on this bill . 
let me briefly explain the thrust of my amendment . 
this amendment is only a small technical change to my original amendment that was adopted during the full committee markup last week . 
in essence , the change would require the attorney general to work , through the office of justice programs , to make grants to the highest state courts in states participating in the threat assessment database program . 
the rationale for changing the language to make state supreme courts eligible for receiving grants for the creation of a threat assessment database is that the state courts are on the ground and have the best understanding of what type of threats are out there and where they are coming from . 
in addition : the department of justice has interpreted language giving `` grants to states '' as going directly to state executives ( governors ) and they have sometimes bypassed the state courts . 
the state court administrating agencies ( led by the state supreme courts ) are in a better position to know about the kind of threats and attacks they experience in a given year . 
the state court administrating agencies are in a better position to know how to respond to attacks and develop procedures to counter threats to the state courts . 
if the grants go to the state executive , there is a chance that money expended under this program will go to another part of the state budget such as roads or education , not court security . 
i respectfully request that my amendment be made in order . 
mr. chairman , i yield back the balance of my time . 
