-Code of Judicial Administration – Utah Court Rules

Posted: October 28, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes December 12, 2024

CJA03-302.Clerk of the court. Amend. The proposed amendments bring the rule in line with current practice, help court employees understand the Clerk of Court’s role, and update language and other terms for consistency purposes.

CJA03-303. Justice court clerks. Amend. The proposed amendments clarify the role of non-court staff in justice court operations and codify the Judicial Council’s decision to restrict access to the courts’ case management system when certification requirements have not been met.

CJA04-401. Proceedings conducted by remote transmission. New. The proposed rule requires that remote court proceedings be conducted exclusively via a video conferencing platform approved by the Judicial Council. The Council may grant exceptions.

CJA01.205. Standing and ad hoc committees. Amend.

CJA03-114. Judicial outreach. Repeal. The proposed amendments: 1) create a Tribal Liaison Committee; 2) remove the general counsel member position from the Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders Committee (WINGS); 3) eliminate the Pretrial Release and Supervision Committee; and 4) repeal the Judicial Outreach Committee. The Outreach Committee’s work will be absorbed by the Committee on Fairness and Accountability.

Posted: June 26, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed August 10, 2024

CJA01-0205. Amend. Standing and ad hoc committees

CJA02-0102. Amend. The proposed amendments formalize the existence of the Council’s consent calendar, list the items which may be placed on the calendar, outline the process for removing items from the calendar, and require a Council vote on items placed on the consent calendar.

CJA03-0422. New. Tribal Liaison Committee. The proposed amendments create a new Judicial Council standing committee, the Tribal Liaison Committee, to serve as a core leadership team for the Tribal Liaison and to provide subject matter expertise to the Council regarding matters impacting both the judiciary and tribal courts.

CJA03-0501. Amend. The proposed amendments clarify policies regarding retirement benefits for commissioners and judges of courts of record and incentive benefits for active senior judges.

CJA04-0101.New. Manner of appearance. The Supreme Court recently published proposed rules of civil, criminal, and juvenile procedure which identify factors judges should consider when setting in-person, remote, and hybrid hearings. The procedural rules also specify how hearing participants may request to appear in a manner opposite of the initial court setting and provide factors judges should consider in approving or denying a participant’s request. Rule 4-101 is a new companion rule addressing notice and compliance.

Posted: May 15, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes June 29, 2024

CJA04-0601. Selection of indigent aggravated murder and defense fund counsel (REPEAL)
Under Senate Bill 160, effective May 1, 2024, the Office of Indigent Defense Services will be responsible for administering the Indigent Aggravated Murder Defense Fund and assigning an indigent defense service provider to represent individuals prosecuted for aggravated murder. As such, rule 4-601 has been repealed.

CJA02-0212. Communication with the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel (AMEND)
House Bill 344, effective May 1, 2024, combines the legislature’s “Judicial Rules Review Committee” and “Administrative Rules Review and General Oversight Committee” into one committee called the “Rules Review and General Oversight Committee.” The amendments bring the rule in line with new reporting requirements in the bill.

CJA04-0907. Divorce education and divorce orientation course (AMEND)
Under House Bill 337, effective May 1, 2024, the Judicial Council must provide a separate mandatory parenting course “for unmarried parties in a parentage action determining issues of child custody and parent-time.” Until the unmarried parties course is available, unmarried parties must attend the married parents course.

Posted: May 15, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closes June 29, 2024

CJA01-0204.Executive committees (AMEND)
Amends membership on the Technology Advisory Subcommittee (TAC). A representative from the Office of General Counsel would replace the Policy, Planning, and Technology Committee member and a member of the Judicial Data and Research department would be added to each of the technology core teams.

CJA01-0205. Standing and ad hoc committees (AMEND)
Eliminates the General Counsel member position on both the Pretrial and WINGS committees.

CJA04-0202.01. Definitions (AMEND)
Clarifies that calendars are not “records.”

CJA04-0202.08. Fees for records, information, and services (AMEND)
Grants clerks of court the authority to waive the one free copy limit for court records associated with a case.

CJA04-0206. Exhibits (AMEND)
Provides exhibit managers with much-needed clarity and guidance on how to manage exhibits in criminal, post-conviction, and appellate actions.

Posted: March 11, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed

CJA01-0305. Board of senior judges. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) expand membership on the Board to include senior justice court judges, and (2) revise the term lengths and number of meetings of the Board.

CJA03-0104. Presiding judges. Amend. The proposed amendments remove the requirement to send notice of a senior judge assignment to the State Court Administrator.

CJA03-0108. Judicial assistance. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) add water law cases to the criteria for transferring or assigning senior judges, and (2) clarify and simplify considerations for assigning senior judges.

CJA03-0111. Performance evaluations. Amend. The proposed amendments remove references to senior judges, as the processes for evaluating senior judge performance have been incorporated into Rule 11-201.

CJA03-0113. Senior judges. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) require the AOC to provide a new senior judge orientation, and (2) expand the responsibilities of court executives in providing support for senior judges.

CJA03-0403. Judicial branch education. Amend. The proposed amendments (1) clarify that “annually” refers to the fiscal year, and (2) revise and simplify education requirements for active and inactive senior judges.

CJA03-0501. Insurance benefits upon retirement. Amend. The proposed amendments revise qualifications for incentive benefits.

CJA011-0201. Senior Judges. Amend.

CJA11-0203. Senior Justice Court Judges. Amend.

The proposed amendments to Rules 11-201 and 11-203: (1) clarify and revise qualifications for appointment of senior judges, (2) establish qualifications and process for reappointment of senior judges, (3) establish and revise standards and processes for performance evaluation of senior judges, (4) clarify the role of the Judicial Council in the appointment and reappointment of senior judges, (5) revise the terms of office and authority of senior judges, and (6) include general cleanup for clarity and consistency.

Posted: February 27, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed April 12, 2024

CJA03-0306.02. Language Access Committee (AMEND). Removes the reference to rule Rule 3-306.05.

CJA03-0306.03. Interpreter credentialing (AMEND). Clarifies that the rule does not apply to staff interpreters employed by the court and gives the Language Access Program Manager the discretion to grant a rare language exemption without approval from the Language Access Committee.

CJA03-0306.04. Interpreter appointment, payment, and fees (AMEND). 1) Allows judicial officers to appoint “approved” interpreters in legal proceedings without exhausting the list of “certified” interpreters; 2) prevents court employees not hired as staff interpreters from interpreting legal proceedings; and 3) removes language regarding staff interpreter employee benefits.

CJA03-0306.05. Interpreter removal, discipline, and formal complaints (REPEALED)

Posted: February 26, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed April 11, 2024

CJA06-0304. Grand jury panel (AMEND). The proposed amendments change all grand jury panel member terms to 5 years, with no member serving more than 2 consecutive terms. Retiring members would be allowed to finish out a term as an active senior judge.

Posted: January 25, 2024

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed March 10, 2024

CJA03-0201. Court commissioners (AMEND). Eliminates standing commissioner nominating committees. New nominating committees would be formed each time a commissioner vacancy occurs.

CJA01-0201. Judicial Council Membership – Election (AMEND). Adds a judicial member of the Business and Chancery Court to the Judicial Council.

Posted: December 20, 2023

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed February 3, 2024

CJA03-0108. Judicial assistance (AMEND). Authorizes the presiding officer of the Judicial Council to appoint a juvenile court presiding judge as the signing judge for automatic expungement orders in juvenile court cases within the presiding judge’s district.

CJA04-0202.02. Records classification (AMEND)

CJA04-0202.03. Records access (AMEND)

*Note: Rule drafts include amendments approved by the Judicial Council on November 20, 2023, also effective January 1, 2024.

Amends records classification and access to certain juvenile court social records, juvenile court legal records, and adoption records to align with rules of procedure and Utah code. Amendments also allow attorneys representing individuals authorized access to adoption, expungement, and juvenile court social records to obtain copies of the records with a signed and notarized release.

CJA04-0208. Automated case processing procedures (AMEND). Expands the rule to encompass an automated expungement process for successful nonjudicial adjustments in juvenile court cases and prohibits judges from manually issuing automatic expungement orders outside of automated processes approved by the Judicial Council.

Posted: December 18, 2023

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed February 1, 2024

CJA03-0104. Presiding judges (AMEND). The proposed amendments replace the definition of case under advisement with a reference to the criteria in CJA 3-101 and require state level administrators to report to the Management Committee if they determine a judge has willfully failed to submit a monthly case under advisement report.