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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