Issue 6:19 is here.

• Hawaii’s Senate passes for second time plan to let CJ call retired judges back into service
• California bill would expand civil e-filing
• Bills advancing in Missouri and Oklahoma would permit use of debt collection agencies to recover money owed the courts
• Changes to Missouri’s merit selection for appellate court judges approved by Senate

Issue 6:18 is here.

• NH House Judiciary committee rejects effort to impeach marital master and possibly the entire Superior Court bench
• Bills to help pay for court technology advance in SC, TN
• Merit selection changes in MO, TN
• Veterans courts debated in LA, OK
• Assembly committee approves plan to unionize California’s AOC

Issue 6:17 is here.

• Increasing small claims limits in LA, MN, NY
• Merit selection changes in MO, TN
• MO House approves bill that prohibits state judges from enforcing federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Issue 6:16 is here.

• OK legislature on verge of overriding judicial compensation commission’s recommended 6% increase in judicial salaries
• Multiple judicial selection bills advance in TN
• NH Senate Finance committee approves changes to judicial performance evaluation

Issue 6:15 is here.

• MO bill would require judges use orginalist interpretation of law and constitution
• More and more activity in TN on judicial selection
• Veterans’ courts advance in MO & TN, MD will study the issue

Issue 6:14 is here.

• Changes to small claims limits move in Arizona and Minnesota
• Judicial salary increases advance in ID & MS
• Delaware’s Senate wants to study opening juvenile proceedings
• Bills to protect judges and court staff approved in Georgia and Illinois

Issue 6:13 is here.

• Kansas’ House moves to limit courts’ jurisdiction
• Bill before GA governor would require all municipal judges receive same training
• New Hampshire House votes to remove supreme court’s rule making power, unilaterally declare existing rule void
• Changes to merit selection advance in Hawaii, Missouri, and Tennessee
• Alabama’s House and Senate pass bills to contend with false liens on judges

Issue 6:12 is here.

• Focus Trend: Court e-filing (go visit a fellow NCSC blog, the Court Technology Bulletin for even more info!)
• Minnesota bill would cut judicial funding for every dollar court orders state to pay
• Maryland may increase judicial retirement age from 70 to 72
• Changes to judicial salaries advance in Hawaii, Idaho, and Maryland
• Public financing of judicial elections moving in Kentucky, dead in Wisconsin
• Specialized courts: Arizona looks likely to get homeless courts
• Maryland House committee rejects effort to use judicial disciplinary system to punish judges for their decisions

Issue 6:11 is here.

• Focus Trend: Court Interpreters/Court Interpretation
• Changes to small claims limits advance in Arizona & introduced in Louisiana
• Hawaii’s Senate approves increase to mandatory judicial retirement age while Wyoming’s Senate rejects elimination
• Florida’s legislature adopts numerous measures to fund state’s judiciary
• Partisanship in judicial picks: Arizona & West Virginia may require those picked to fill judicial vacancies be of same party as those they are replacing, while Georgia may make some currently non-partisan races partisan
• Specialized courts: Veterans courts approved in Maine & Hawaii; domestic violence courts in West Virginia
• IL bill would require clerks of court post victims’ rights statement outside every criminal courtroom door

Issue 6:10 is here.

• International/sharia law bans advancing in Alabama, Florida, Missouri, and South Dakota
• Changes to mandatory judicial retirement ages moving in AL & FL, killed in VA
• Specialized courts: Veterans courts approved in Maine, Missouri, & Oklahoma; domestic violence courts in West Virginia
• Minnesota Senate joins House in efforts to remove all members of judicial disciplinary body and replace with legislators
• Tennessee Senate rejects constitutional amendment to diminish judicial salaries while in office
• Bills to enhance penalties for attacks on court staff advance in Georgia and Wisconsin