Posted: September 3, 2004
Code of Judicial Administration
CJA 01-205. Standing and ad hoc committees. Amend. Establishes the Committee on Self-represented Parties.
CJA 03-111.03. Standards of judicial performance Amend. Eliminates possibility of lawyer with trial experience being removed from respondent pool due to too few total appearances.
CJA 03-115.Committee on self-represented parties. New. Identifies the responsibilities of the committee.
CJA 03-408.Inventory. Amend. Changes minimum value for mandatory inventory control from $500 to $1,000.
CJA 03-411. Grant management. Amend. Adds approval by the legislature for large federal grants.
CJA 03-413. Judicial library resources. Amend. Eliminate mandatory subscription to Utah Advance Reports, an equivalent email notification service being offered by the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.
CJA 09-105. Justice Court hours Amend. Establishes 5-day operation as the standard for justice courts. Permits waiver by the Judicial Council
CJA 10-1-203. Designation of video arraignment areas as courtroom. Amend. Update references to video arraignment courtrooms in Second District Court.
I support establishing that Justice Courts are open five days a week. I am concerned by a move in at least one jurisdiction to change to a four-day work week. I believe that move reflects what happens when government becomes self-serving rather than fulfill its mission to serve the public.
My comments pertain to the proposed changes to [Rule 9-105. Justice Court Hours]. The change provides that “holidays” are as defined in State Code Section 63-13-2. This wording fails to recognize that many cities and counties have by local ordinance, provided for holidays which vary somewhat from the State holiday schedule.
Presently, our court closes on all recognized Sandy City holidays, two of which are not State holidays. Conversely, there are a few State holidays for which the justice court remains open for non-courtroom business because those days are not Sandy City holidays.
Under State Code Section 78-5-106.5(1), Justice Courts are obligated to follow local rules and regulations related to “administrative functions” among other things. This would certainly seem to include a requirement that local ordinances prescribing holidays be followed.
I suggest the wording of the proposed rule be changed to: (2)”Unless specifically waived by the Judicial Council, Justice Courts shall be open and available to transact judicial business Monday through Friday excluding holidays as defined in State Code Section 63-13-2 or as defined in local ordinance in the event of conflict.”
Hopefully, this will permit the justice courts to be consistent with their local governments’ requirements and avoid the problematic issues arising from the rule change as originally proposed.