Board for Judicial Administration
May 19, 2006
Kilroy Tower, SeaTac

Members present: Judge Robert McSeveney, co-chair; Judge Marlin Appelwick; Judge Stephen M. Brown; Judge Vickie Churchill; Judge Michael Cooper; Judge Sara Derr; Ms. Ellen Dial; Judge Richard Fitterer; Judge Deborah Fleck; Judge James P. Hutton; Justice Barbara Madsen; Ms. Janet McLane; Judge Christine Quinn-Brintnall; Judge Alicia Nakata; Judge Linda Portnoy; and Judge Dennis Sweeney

Guest present: Ms. Jan Michels

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 Judge Robert McSeveney, co-chair.

Introductions

Judge Cooper introduced Judge James P. Hutton, Yakima County Superior Court, the SCJA's newly elected representative to BJA. Judge Cooper advised that Judge Vickie Churchill had been elected president-elect of the Superior Court Judges' Association during the Association's recent Spring Conference.

Mr. Hall delivered a brief slide presentation of the Franklin County Courthouse.

Minutes

It was moved by Judge Cooper and seconded by Judge Churchill to approve the minutes of the April 21, 2006 meeting as published. The motion carried.

Best Practices Committee Chair

Judge McSeveney explained due to the end of Judge Sperline's term on the Board for Judicial Administration, Judge Sperline is no longer the chair of the Best Practices Committee. Judge McSeveney advised that Judge Julie Spector, King County Superior Court, is interested in assuming the responsibility of chairing the Best Practices Committee.

It was moved by Judge Cooper to appoint Judge Julie Spector chair of the Best Practices Committee. The motion was seconded by Judge Nakata and carried.

Trial Court Coordination Grants

Mr. Hall directed attention to Judge Holman's May 1 memo announcing the recipients of the Trial Court Coordination Grants. He advised the Board that the Gender and Justice Commission had provided unexpended Stop Grant money for the Pierce County DV order project.

Mr. Hall pointed out that Kitsap County will be undertaking an evaluation to determine the feasibility of a regionalized approach to the delivery of services by the county's limited jurisdiction courts.

Court Security Committee

Mr. Hall reported that the committee is reviewing the current standards. He also reported that an incident report form had been distributed to all presiding judges and court managers.

The members briefly discussed areas in which the Court Security Committee could provide assistance, such as creating a security check list and providing courts with grant information.

Court Funding Implementation Committee

Mr. Hall reported the Implementation Committee had met and reviewed the court funding proposals. The proposals will be brought to the June meeting for approval and forwarding to the Supreme Court with the recommendation that they be included in the AOC budget. Mr. Hall reviewed the Court Interpreter Decision Package Summaries.

Mr. Hall advised that he had met with the deputy director of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Department to discuss rates for sign interpreters. He stated that department is tasked with setting the rate of pay for sign interpreters and courts should be relying upon that department for all sign interpreters. Mr. Hall said at some point it may be wise to pull together a focus group.

Mr. Hall advised that the Implementation Committee had also requested that the AOC website content be translated. He estimated the package will total roughly $8 million.

Judge Fleck provided an overview of the Justice in Jeopardy effort. Brief discussions on the following topics occurred:

• The goal of the committee is to continue to strengthen internal and external partners.

• Include with the distribution of the Trial Court Improvement Account Report an alert advising judges of the two sources of funds—general funds and the trial court improvement account.

• Continue to push for state contribution for those items with the strongest state nexus.

• Successes due to coalition working together in a coordinated way.

• Justice in Jeopardy Bulletin to contain chart with 2005 successes and source of funds.

Collateral Consequences

Mr. Hall reviewed the Collateral Consequences of LFOs chart outlining the number of cases in a particular category, total amount owing by case type and the average amount owing.

The members went on to discuss issues relating to collateral consequences and whether a task force should be created to study the issues. Mr. Hall said he would frame out the seven-eight major categories for next month's meeting.

1. Disproportionality of monetary and non-monetary collateral consequences.
2. Equal protection issues arising from disparate collection practices and procedures.
3. The amount of interest that accrues on fines and fees while the defendant is incarcerated.
4. Was the original intent behind each individual fine or fee being met in the assessment of each fine or fee.
5. Total amount of LFO's assessed and collected by level of court.
6. Cost/benefit of collection efforts.
7. How fines and fees in Washington State compare to other states.

Reports from the Courts

Court of Appeals

Judge Brown reported that retired Judge Ben McInturff had passed away. Judge McIntruff served on Division III's bench.

Judge Brown spoke about the Oregon newspaper article on the decline of court reports. The article used a Clark County case as an example. Judge Churchill suggested getting in touch with Pierce County as they had conducted a study.

Judge Quinn-Brintnall advised the Court Rules and Procedures Committee will recommend to the Bar Board of Governors that the rule on unpublished opinions not be changed. She stated that unpublished opinions are unreliable and judges who author them are not writing intending to be precedent setting in their cases.

A brief discussion followed, during which it was suggested that unpublished opinions may be a topic at the fall conference joint business meeting.

Superior Courts

Judge Cooper reported that the spring conference was well attended. He said that the committee assignments will be available for the June meeting.

Courts of Limited Jurisdiction

Judge McSeveney noted that today is Judge Nakata's last meeting. He thanked her for the many contributions to the Board's work.

Judge Nakata thanked the board for their attention to DMCJA issues. She added that she appreciated the dedication of the BJA's membership.

Washington State Bar Association

Ms. Dial reported that the following elections had taken place:

President-elect	Stanley Bastian
BOG 1st District	Russell M. Aoki
BOG 5th District	Peter J. Karademos
BOG 7th West District	Anthony Butler

Ms. Dial advised that the Young Lawyers Division representative will be elected during the June BOG meeting.

Ms. Dial reported the BOG voted to forward a proposed rule to the Supreme Court Rules Committee that would clarify the Bar's role in administering the boards created by the Supreme Court.

Other Business

Judge Fleck asked that BJA agenda circulation via listserv be placed on next month's agenda.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,
Jude Cryderman