Friday, November 6, 2009

Today's Commission meeting

The Commission on Judicial Operation unanimously voted to approve the draft report this morning and then adjourned just before 11:30. The work of the Commission is probably now finished. They also approved "in concept" a draft bill that carries out the intention of the report. Legislative Counsel Eric Fitzpatrick will take the draft the Commission posted yesterday and check it for errors, consistency, etc. before it is introduced in the legislature in January. It's my understanding that it will begin as a House bill and most likely be handled by the House Judiciary Committee.
Today's unanimous Commission vote was not without reservations on the part of every Commission member that spoke. Each understood the challenge facing the judiciary; each said that it's time to make hard choices; and each speaker didn't like the choices available. In particular, each person acknowledged reservations about the recommendations to change the Probate Court structure. But in the end, this is a proposal to the legislature that, for all the Commission work to date, will probably come out the other end looking very different!

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