Board for Judicial Administration
December 16, 2005
Kilroy Tower, SeaTac
Members present: Chief Justice Gerry Alexander, co-chair; Judge Robert McSeveney, member-chair; Judge Marlin Appelwick; Judge Mary Kay Becker; Mr. Richard Carlson; Judge Vickie Churchill; Judge Michael Cooper; Judge Sara Derr; Judge Richard Fitterer; Judge Deborah Fleck; Judge Stephen Holman; Judge Ken Kato; Justice Barbara Madsen; Judge Alicia Nakata; Judge Christine Quinn-Brintnall; Judge James M. Riehl; Judge Evan Sperline; Mr. Brooke Taylor and Judge Michael Trickey
Guests present: Ms. Pam Daniels; Ms. Jan Michels; and Ms. Fawn Opp
Staff present: Mr. Gil Austin; Ms. Jude Cryderman; Mr. Doug Haake; Mr. Jeff Hall; Mr. Dirk Marler; and Ms. Ann Sweeney
Call to order
The meeting was called to order by Chief Justice Alexander, co-chair.
Minutes
Judge Nakata directed attention to the following corrections to the minutes:
Page one, third paragraph under Minutes corrected to read:
The commissioners would be limited to from presiding over civil and criminal trials.
Page six, second paragraph, last sentence corrected to read:
The presiding judge of the terminated court would be part of the termination negotiation process, but not required to be a signatory.
Page six, sixth paragraph, first sentence corrected to read:
In response to a question, Judge Nakata explained that the election of judges allows for more independence, but the driving force behind regionalization is might be the probation departments.
Page seven, last paragraph, first sentence corrected to read:
Mr. Hall reported that last year SB 5322 proposed an increase to civil jurisdiction from $50,000 to $70,000 $75,000.
Chief Justice Alexander said the minutes of the November 18, 2005 meeting are approved as corrected.
SCJA Pension Proposal
Judge Trickey reported the Board is pleased with the Legislative Pension Policy Board's decision to go forward with the SCJA's proposal. It is anticipated that the legislators on the Pension Policy Board may be the prime sponsors of the bill.
The Board was advised that DMCJA voted to support the pension proposal with the understanding that the courts of limited jurisdiction judges would either have to pay the increase or negotiate with their local government.
Judge Fleck provided a brief update on the Policy Board meeting.
It was moved by Judge Trickey and seconded by Judge Appelwick to support the bill as it came out of the Pension Policy Committee.
The Board discussed whether it would be necessary to return to the BJA if there were problems with the portion of the bill that deals with local government negotiations.
Judge Fleck offered a friendly amendment to the motion that if the DMCJA Board does not approve of changes as presented today, the pension proposal would have to come back to the full-BJA for consideration. Judge Trickey and Judge Appelwick agreed to the amendment.
Discussion followed regarding the need to return to the BJA, if DMCJA was unable to successfully lobby local legislative bodies for contributions to retirement.
Council on Public Legal Education
Judge Appelwick provided a brief history of the proposed bill, indicating the Council felt the need to improve civics education in public schools.
It was moved by Judge Fleck and seconded by Judge Churchill to support the bill to improve civics education and beginning with the 2008-09 school year, the school districts shall annually submit a verification report to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction documenting the use of the classroom-based assessments in civics. The motion passed.
Cowlitz County Superior Court
Mr. Hall advised the Board of the request from Cowlitz County Superior Court for an additional judicial position.
It was moved by Judge Fleck and seconded by Judge Holman to support the request by Cowlitz County Superior Court for an additional judicial position. The motion passed.
Office of Public Defense
Mr. Hall reviewed the Office of Public Defense's supplemental budget request.
It was moved by Judge Fleck and seconded by Judge Trickey to support the Office of Public Defense's supplemental budget request for $11 million general fund money for parent representation implementation in all counties and $15.9 million of general fund money for reimbursement of public defense spending to the counties. The motion passed.
CLJ Structure Options Committee
Implementation of Long-term Goals
Judge Nakata briefly reviewed the Principles for Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, Criteria for Evaluating Proposals to Establish Regional Courts of Limited Jurisdiction and Elements to Consider in Establishing Regional Courts of Limited Jurisdiction. Judge Nakata advised that all three documents had been adopted by the CLJ Structure Options Committee.
Judge Nakata advised that the Committee has completed its initial charge of having the long-term goals approved. In addition, BJA had approved the group's negotiations with interested parties. She continued, although the negotiations process is slow, some progress is being made. The main issues include concurrent jurisdiction, election of all judges and the presiding judges authority to be signatory on inter-local agreements.
The Board briefly discussed the three issues, agreeing to finish the regular agenda, then continue discussions with only BJA members present.
Presiding Judges' Conference
Ms. Sweeney advised that 110 had attended the recent conference at Skamania Lodge. This year's conference theme was “Developing, Strengthening and Building Relationships.”
Other Business
The next meeting is scheduled for January 20th at the Temple of Justice in Olympia.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
Jude Cryderman
|
