Tuesday, February 10, 2015

10 February 2015



Sorry I haven’t reported for a few days but I traveled out of state for the ABA Mid Year Meeting; yes, it was in a warmer and sunny place- Houston, TX. Since I last posted the House passed the Uniform Transfer to Minors Act and sent it to the Senate. Now, the Senate will hold it until after crossover- the day when bills (except money bills) must be passed by one chamber in order to receive consideration in the other. That date, this year, is March 13th, although there is some flexibility in the first year of a biennium.

Tomorrow the House should act on the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (H. 86). VBA Family Law Section Chair Penny Benelli testified in support of the bill which needs to be passed in order as a condition of continued receipt of federal funds supporting child support programs.

Also tomorrow the Joint Committee on Judicial Retention will interview the three judges and two magistrates up for retention this year. Here is the committee schedule should you be interested in providing input to the committee or to testify at the public hearing.

JUDICIAL RETENTION SCHEDULE 2015
Wed. 2/11    First Comm. meeting with Superior Judges, Magistrates
5:00 p.m., Room 10
          Hon. Brian Grearson
          Hon. Mary Miles Teachout, Superior Judge                          
          Hon. Howard VanBenthuysen, Superior Judge
          Hon. Mary Gleason Harlow, Magistrate
          Hon. Christine Hoyt, Magistrate
                   
Wed. 2/18    Public hearing
7:00 p.m., Room 11

Thurs. 2/26   Follow up Comm. Meetings with Superior Judges, Magistrates
5:00 p.m., Room 10

March 2-March 6     Town Meeting Week Recess

Wed. 3/11    Comm. Meeting to deliberate, vote and make reporting
5:00 p.m., Room 10          assignments

Tues. 3/17    Have summaries of reports available for caucuses

Thurs. 3/19   Joint Assembly (if Comm. is not ready, postpone by Joint
10:30 a.m.    Resolution until 3/26)

A lot has been happening, although mostly in the background, on the judicial budget issue. There’s not much to report here except to say that the Senate agrees with the House on the budget adjustment to the judiciary budget. The $500,000 cut proposed by the governor for FY 16 is still in play. The Supreme Court convened a meeting yesterday of about 20 stakeholders to discuss options to save some money. Those options include “right-sizing” use of courtrooms; increased use of video conferencing; reduced prisoner transport; specialty court dockets, etc. Of course, closing courthouses (Grand Isle and Essex) came up as did reducing the number of probate courts. But nothing conclusive came out of that meeting; there was no consensus on a plan. Tomorrow afternoon, the CJ is presenting the court’s budget to the House Appropriations Committee. It’ll be interesting to hear his summary of yesterday.


I’ll update this as soon as I can after tomorrow’s hearing. Thanks for reading. 

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