Category: -Code of Judicial Administration

Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed January 5, 2023

CJA06-0501. Reporting requirements for guardians and conservators. Proposed amendments clarify that a corporate fiduciary must attach its own internal reports and accountings to court approved forms.

CJA03-0406. Budget and fiscal management. Proposed amendments incorporate the role of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee and make other improvements to clarify the budget process.

CJA03-0104. Presiding judges. Proposed amendments require presiding judges to notify the appropriate state level administrator when a judge fails to submit a required case under advisement statement. If a judge fails to submit a required statement for two consecutive months, the state level administrator must notify the Management Committee.

 

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed November 3, 2022

CJA04-0202.04. Request to access a record associated with a case; request to classify a record associated with a case. (Amend). Clarifies that requesters denied access to non-public court records associated with a case that they are not authorized to access under rule 4-202.03 must file a motion or petition to access the record.

CJA04-0202.08. Fees for records, information, and services. (Amend). Consistent with H.B. 96 and 63G-2-203(5)(c), the proposed amendments in lines 55-62 would allow the court to charge requesters for the first 15 minutes of personnel time if the person has submitted a separate request within the 10-day period immediately prior to the date of the new request, provided the person is not a Utah media representative.

In line 112, “impecunious” is changed to “indigent” to make it more consistent with Utah Code and other court rules.

In lines 116-118, indigent requesters are allowed one free copy of each record, after which they would be required to pay the standard rates. Exceptions can be made by the State Court Administrator.

CJA01-0204. Executive committees. (Amend). The proposed amendments create court-level core teams and subcommittees of Policy, Planning, and Technology to assist the Committee in accomplishing its new technology responsibilities.

CJA01-0201. Judicial Council Membership – Election. (Amend).

CJA01-0302. Board of Judges Membership – Officers – Secretariat. (Amend).

The proposed amendments clarify that Council members may serve as non-voting members of a trial court board and continue to allow an exception for the appellate courts.

Rule 1-201 has also been amended to reflect the Judicial Council’s membership exception for the Standing Committee on Judicial Fairness and Accountability set forth in rule 1-205(1)(C).

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed October 8, 2022

CJA04-0208. Automated case processing procedures. (AMEND) HB 139, deferred traffic prosecution, goes into effect on October 1, 2022. The amendments authorize the Administrative Office of the Courts to develop a process for issuing automated orders in deferred traffic prosecution cases, similar to the clean slate expungement process. Removes definitions of terms that are not included in the rule.

CJA03-0108. Judicial assistance. (AMEND) HB 139, deferred traffic prosecution, goes into effect on October 1, 2022. The amendments allow the presiding officer of the Council to appoint a district court presiding judge as the signing judge for deferred traffic prosecution orders in all district courts within the presiding judge’s district with jurisdiction over eligible cases.

CJA04-0403. Electronic signature and signature stamp use. (AMEND) HB 139, deferred traffic prosecution, goes into effect on October 1, 2022. The amendments allow the electronic signature of a judge to be automatically affixed to orders related to deferred traffic prosecution cases.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed October 7, 2022

CJA04-0202.02. Records classification. (AMEND) Currently, the rules are unclear as to what happens to a record previously designated as sealed if it is included in the overall record on appeal. The proposed amendment would allow sealed records to remain sealed even if included in the record on appeal. Records may be unsealed by court order.

Appendix B. Justice Court Standards for Recertification. (AMEND) Code of Judicial Administration Rule 9-108 requires that justice court standards be reviewed and updated every two years. The proposed amendments are intended to streamline the appendix, provide clarity, and incorporate recent statutory amendments.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed September 2, 2022

CJA09-0107. Justice court technology, security, and training account. (AMEND). Following the creation of the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee, the approval process for allocations from the Justice Court Technology, Security and Training Account was modified. The proposed amendments codify a change in practice that was implemented a few years ago.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed August 11, 2022

CJA04-0206. Exhibits. (Amend). For clarification purposes, “biological evidence” has been added to the non-exhaustive list of exhibits that will remain in the custody of parties during trial and a reference to Title 53, Chapter 20, Forensic Biological Evidence Preservation, has been added to paragraph (5) to draw parties’ attention to their responsibilities regarding disposal of biological evidence.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed July 15, 2022

The following rules are approved for a 45-day public comment period.

CJA04-020.03. Records access. (AMEND). Allows a petitioner in an expunged case to obtain a certified copy of the expungement order and case history upon request and in-person presentation of positive identification. This mirrors the process for adoptive parents in obtaining a certified copy of the adoption decree.

CJA06-0501. Reporting requirements for guardians and conservators. (AMEND). Incorporates changes related to H.B. 320 (Guardianship Bill of Rights), streamlines and clarifies exceptions to reporting requirements, outlines procedures and timelines for approval of and objection to reports, and requires the use of a Judicial Council-approved cover sheet and report forms that are substantially the same as Judicial Council-approved forms.

The following rules will go into effect May 23, 2022. Pursuant to CJA Rule 2-205, Expedited rulemaking procedure, the rules are subject to a 45-day comment period. 

CJA04-0508.  Guidelines for ruling on a motion to waive fees. (AMEND). The proposed amendments are in response to S.B. 87, effective May 4, 2022. Among other things, SB 87 amends provisions regarding affidavits of indigency and requires a court to find an individual indigent under certain circumstances.

CJA01-0204. Executive committees. (AMEND).

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees. (AMEND).

Creates a Standing Committee on Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS). Renames the Policy and Planning Committee to the “Policy, Planning, and Technology Committee.” In addition to its current responsibilities, the committee will now review and recommend technology policies and priorities. The Standing Technology Committee is dissolved.

The following rule will go into effect July 1, 2022. Pursuant to CJA Rule 2-205, Expedited rulemaking procedure, the rule is subject to a 45-day comment period. 

CJA09-0109. Presiding Judges. (AMEND). Simplifies the leadership structure of justice courts and addresses the compensation disparity related to presiding and associate presiding judges by eliminating the position of Education Director. The Associate Presiding Judge will assume education duties.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed April 28, 2022

CJA03-0407. Accounting. (AMEND). The amendments to the rule address the following items:

1. Incorporate the Budget and Fiscal Management Committee (BFMC) into Rule 3-407 as an approval body for accounting manual updates. The original version of Rule 3-407 predated the creation of the BFMC.

2. Elevate and document the role of the clerks of court as reviewers and approvers of new and amended accounting manual policies, post review by the Accounting Manual Review Committee but before the BFMC. The clerks of court are performing this role today, the proposed amendment would simply incorporate current practice into policy. This change has been endorsed by Shane Bahr and Neira Siaperas.

3. Eliminate the court services representative on the Accounting Manual Review Committee as the elevation of the review by all clerks of court will more comprehensively address any role played by the old court services area which has been integrated into IT.

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Code of Judicial Administration – Comment Period Closed April 28, 2022

CJA01-0205. Standing and Ad Hoc Committees. (AMEND). Creates a Standing Committee on Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS).

CJA03-0421. WINGS Committee. (NEW). Outlines the roles and responsibilities of the new Standing Committee on Working Interdisciplinary Network of Guardianship Stakeholders (WINGS).

CJA06-0104. Water law judges. (NEW). New rule creating designated water judges in district court to handle cases involving water law and the adjudication of water rights.

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