The Hawaii State Judiciary’s electronic bench warrant system (eBW) was selected by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government for its newly-created Bright Ideas program. eBW is one of 173 government programs chosen from over 600 applicants and just one of two from Hawaii.

Designed to streamline and speed the delivery of warrants statewide from the District Courts to law enforcement, eBW is the result of a collaborative effort between the Judiciary and Hawai`i Information Consortium. The system was launched in March 2009. Last month, eBW received a 2010 Digital Government Achievement Award when it was recognized by the Center for Digital Government as one of the best state government-to-government websites in the country.

In its inaugural year, Bright Ideas is designed to recognize and share creative and promising government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities.