Long Range Issue #1: Deliver Justice Effectively, Efficiently, and Fairly

The Florida Judicial Branch vision statement defines a commitment to being accessible, fair, effective, responsive, and accountable. These principles guide each member of the court system daily. When the pandemic began in the spring of 2020, the courts adapted quickly and overcame obstacles daily to continue delivering justice effectively, efficiently, and fairly.

Many of the innovations borne from this period persist through the conduct of remote proceedings and provide increased access to justice. The work completed by branch leaders and court staff cannot be overstated. Over the past two years, court officers and staff have been committed to ensuring the courts remain functional and have created systems that will continue to be a part of our justice system and court operations for decades to come.

• The Path to Pandemic Recovery
• State Courts System Funding
• Judicial Management Council
• Performance and Accountability

The Path to Pandemic Recovery

The pandemic impacted Florida’s courts’ ability to provide due process services in-person. However, the courts innovated and overcame obstacles to continue serving Florida’s residents. The courts used various methods to keep the judicial system functioning and open across Florida. Those efforts were communicated to the public through a coordinated statewide communications campaign, which proved effective in educating the public that the courts remained open. However, some trial court services were delayed, causing a pandemic-generated workload increase. A three-year pandemic recovery plan was developed to address the workload increase.

Trial courts statewide worked together to build the plan after a year defined by trial and error, technology, and flexibility. The plan provides guidance addressing issues such as delayed trial court proceedings, filings, and the need for additional resources such as Zoom licenses or personal protective equipment.

The Trial Court Budget Commission and the Pandemic

Because Florida had never experienced a public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic in recent memory, determining the data needed to support a legislative budget request was a challenge requiring statewide collaboration. The Trial Court Budget Commission played an integral role in ensuring every trial court received the resources needed to keep them functioning amidst global uncertainty.

The court selected Judge Margaret O. Steinbeck of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit as the chair of the Trial Court Budget Commission and Chief Judge Mark H. Mahon of the Fourth Judicial Circuit as the vice-chair. Both judges are serving an additional term as chair and vice-chair respectively, as designated by the Court in June 2020, to provide continuity and guidance to the trial courts during the pandemic.

The Commission has several subcommittees to pinpoint specific budget issues in the trial courts, including a funding methodology committee, a budget management committee, and, as required by the Commission’s Operational Procedures, an executive committee with additional decision-making authority. The executive committee comprises Commission members and is allowed to make decisions on behalf of the Commission when operational deficiencies or time constraints dictate.

Ensuring Court Operations During the Pandemic

The Trial Court Budget Commission worked under immense pressure to allocate resources where they were needed. Acquiring and distributing resources required more collaboration than ever, resulting in twenty-seven executive committee meetings and eight full Commission meetings in FY 20-2021, exceeding the typical number of meetings held by either group in a year. 
The funding methodology committee collected numerous case data directly from clerks to formulate budget requests. The committee identified funding for technology, whether laptops for telework or infrastructure to facilitate virtual remote interpreting or virtual hearings, as the primary need statewide. Court staff relied heavily on in-house IT professionals to implement the recommendations and provide impromptu training where needed.

State Courts System Funding

Salaries, technological resources, and physical infrastructure are among the essential elements that need to be sustained to provide court services to the public. These elements comprise the budget for the State Courts System. When the state courts receive adequate funding, they better serve members of the public and help bring justice to every corner of Florida.

The increase in funding for the district courts of appeal includes a $50 million allocation of one time funding for the construction of a new Second District Court of Appeal courthouse.

Judicial Management Council

Florida’s Judicial Management Council, regarded as a high-level management consultant to the supreme court, has been offering guidance and recommendations to the judicial branch since 1953. When the current Council — its fifth iteration — was reappointed in November 2021, the administrative order referred to it as a “focused advisory body to assist the Chief Justice and this Court in identifying trends, potential crisis situations, and means to address them.”

A 2019 meeting of the JMC

The Council is an agile body designed to respond quickly and resourcefully to challenges facing the branch. This deftness is achieved through the creation of workgroups that are charged with specific tasks and are dissolved upon completion of the tasks.

Among some of the Council’s notable past successes are reformed case reporting developed by the Performance Workgroup, a Communication Plan which focuses on openness and accessibility, and the Long-Range Strategic Plan.

Recent Accomplishments:

Workgroup on County Court Jurisdiction

The Workgroup on County Court Jurisdiction was established in 2018 to assess the jurisdictional limits on small claims cases in county courts. Their goal was to examine the projected effects of changing the case limits, measure the resulting adjustments in operations those changes would create, and identify any need for additional resources. 
The workgroup’s 2018 report noted the jurisdictional limit had not been changed since the mid-1990s. The report suggested the limit be raised, and the supreme court accepted the recommendation and approved pursuing an increase for small claims from $5,000 to $8,000. 

County court jurisdictional limits are governed by statute, and in May 2019, the governor approved House Bill 337 which increased the threshold for county courts to $30,000 by January 1, 2020, and to $50,000 by January 1, 2023. The bill stipulated the Office of the State Courts Administrator submit a report to the legislature in 2021 with recommendations that would ensure a smooth transition to the higher jurisdictional limits. That report addressed impacts on facilities, staffing, case types, docket management, time standards, mediation, judicial education, justice stakeholders, access to courts, and information technology. Nearly all recommendations were accepted by the legislature, and the transition to a jurisdictional increase to $50,000 is underway.

Workgroup on Appellate Review of County Court Cases

The Workgroup on Appellate Review of County Court Decisions was established in January 2019 to assess a Florida Bar Appellate Court Rules Committee proposal suggesting the review of county court appeals by circuit court panels of three judges. While these suggestions presented significant obstacles for circuit courts, the court deemed the need for uniform regulation of county appeals across the state necessary.

The workgroup found two potential solutions to bring uniformity to the county appellate process. One suggestion was to address the challenges facing circuit courts’ appellate practices, using The Florida Bar’s suggestion as a starting point. A second option presented an alternative: shifting some appellate authority from circuit courts to the district courts of appeal. 
Senate Bill 1392, signed into law in June 2020, adopts the latter option and eliminates the appellate authority of circuit courts to hear county appeals in criminal and most civil cases. However, circuit courts still hold appellate jurisdiction over final administrative orders of local code enforcement boards and other matters not under the new jurisdiction of the district courts of appeal. The law became effective in January 2021, and data from the changes in the jurisdiction are currently being collected.

Ongoing Workgroups:

Workgroup on Improved Resolution of Civil Cases

The Workgroup on Improved Resolution of Civil Cases was established in 2019 to identify ways to ensure efficiency as civil cases are tried statewide. The 2016 Call to Action: Achieving Civil Justice for All, a National Center for State Courts publication, informed the work conducted by the workgroup. The members of the workgroup assessed the management of civil cases at a national level and locally, including examination of the Eleventh Circuit’s Civil Justice Initiative Pilot Project.

The workgroup’s ongoing research and collaborations were affected by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The court granted an extension of their term to enable the workgroup to continue research, the collection information, and provide a comprehensive report to the court in November 2021.

Long-range Strategic Plan

The mission of the judicial branch is to protect rights and liberties, uphold and interpret the law, and provide for the peaceful resolution of disputes. The vision is justice in Florida will be accessible, fair, effective, responsive, and accountable. The purpose of the long-range strategic plan is to guide Florida’s judicial branch as it seeks to advance its mission and vision in the coming years.

The plan, organized around five broad issue areas, is designed to assist the supreme court and the chief justice as they provide leadership and direction to the branch. Long-range planning is required by Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.225. By assessing the topics that influence Floridian’s daily lives, the Judicial Management Council, which developed the original plan and subsequent iterations, shaped the plan around the needs of Florida’s citizens thus providing an outline of what the judiciary must do to best serve the public.

The planning horizon for the 2016-2021 Strategic Plan concluded on December 31, 2021. Using that plan as the basis, the Judicial Management Council provided updates and enhancements to it and submitted the 2022-2027 Strategic Plan to the supreme court.

*At the time of publication, the Long-Range Strategic Plan 2022-2027 is in effect. All documents pertaining to strategic planning are available on the Florida Courts website.

Performance and Accountability

The commissions on District Court of Appeal and Trial Court Performance and Accountability were established in the late 1990s to ensure allocated resources were being used efficiently and to assist in increasing the courts’ performances. Although initially established as committees under the Judicial Management Council, they grew into full-fledged commissions, renewed and re-tasked every two years by administrative order. The commissions focus primarily on regulating practices to help manage cases fairly and effectively. These practices help provide adequate resources to each court statewide.

Commission on District Court of Appeal Performance and Accountability

The Commission on District Court of Appeal Performance and Accountability was reestablished at the end of FY 2019-20 and directed to continue specific projects while beginning the regular four-year review of judicial case weights required in rule. Reviewing the case weights help the Commission make recommendations to the supreme court. Judge Melanie May of the Fourth District Court of Appeal is named chair of the Commission for the 2020-22 term. During the first year of the term, the Commission focused on projects including the creation of the appellate court performance online dashboard, adjustments in the relative case weights and the weighted case disposition threshold, and the impact of legislation that transferred county court appeals to the district courts of appeal, among others. 

Screenshot of the Online Dashboard for Conveying Caseload Information

Online Dashboard for Conveying Caseload Information

While trial and supreme court case data are readily available online, district appellate case data were not provided collectively until the courts launched the Online Dashboard in February 2021, making the data available in an easily digestible format. The Online Dashboard for Conveying Caseload Information depicts caseload data for each of the five district courts of appeal in graph format. Having this information located in one place in a visually descriptive layout helps district courts make more informed decisions, provides transparent information to the public, and provides context for third parties with a vested interest in the success of the Florida court system. 

Review of Judicial Case Weights

To support the certification of the judicial needs process, every four years the Commission on District Court of Appeal Performance and Accountability assesses the complexity of different case types handled by the district courts. More complex cases are given a higher weight due to the amount of time and judicial effort needed to dispose of those cases. Applying weight to case disposition statistics helps the supreme court determine if additional judgeships are necessary for a specific court. 
During the 2018-20 term, the Commission laid much of the groundwork necessary for reviewing the case weights and continued that work into the 2020-22 term. That term focused on reviewing the current weights, case groupings, case types, and disposition information. In FY 2020-21, the Commission distributed surveys to each eligible district court judge to collect additional information and assess case weights. The review suggested expanded case types within the current appellate case management system, called eFACTS, and a future review of case groupings. 

Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability

The Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability was reestablished for the 2020-22 term. Judge Diana L. Moreland of the Twelfth Circuit was selected as chair of the Commission. Continuing the previous term’s efforts, the Commission worked on several projects during FY 2020-21, including data quality initiatives, uniform case reporting, and virtual remote interpreting, among others.  

Trial Court Data Quality Initiatives

In 2019, the Data Quality Workgroup continued its charge to study data quality in Florida’s trial courts and make recommendations designed to improve the overall confidence in court data. After reviewing several data sources, the workgroup concluded that case opening, closing, and status data needed to be managed more accurately. Subsequently, a report was submitted to the supreme court with recommendations for improving reporting quality. 

In February 2021, the court approved most of the recommendations. The workgroup’s report outlines the actions approved by the court, including the designation of a data quality manager in the circuits and the automation of identifying improperly closed cases. Implementation of the recommendations is ongoing. 

Uniform Case Reporting Project

Working alongside data quality initiatives, the Uniform Case Reporting project seeks to provide accurate, near real-time data from trial courts statewide. The Uniform Case Reporting project describes individual case events that relay a detailed picture of court operations and track the progress of cases as they move through the courts, rather than only the opening and closing of the cases. 

Consistent with the administrative orders regarding deadlines for the implementation of Uniform Case Reporting, progress transitioning to the new system is being made across the state. To complete the set of initial data elements needed for all case types, the Office of the State Courts Administrator released an updated version of the Uniform Case Reporting specification in November 2020, outlining requirements for the comprehensive, fully functioning data reporting system. 

Clerks statewide continue to collaborate with Office of the State Courts Administrator staff to transition to Uniform Case Reporting through two phases. Phase I focuses on the ability to exchange data between the Office of the State Courts Administrator and the clerks, and Phase II centers on data analysis and verification among all involved entities. In the nine divisions currently being tracked, many clerks have completed Phase I, and several clerks are actively working to validate data in at least one division. Interactive maps illustrating statewide Uniform Case Reporting progress by county are available on the Florida Courts website. 

*At the time of publication, an administrative order requiring statewide implementation by December 2024 is in effect. 

Virtual Remote Interpreting

For those with limited English proficiency, language interpreting services are essential to ensuring their constitutional right to due process. Virtual remote interpreting removes the obstacle of interpreter and courtroom participants having to be physically present in the same location to receive services during proceedings and allows for interpreting services to be provided remotely using virtual communications technology. It has the added benefit of allowing those courts with fewer interpreters access to interpreters across the state. Virtual remote interpreting affords audio and video components, allowing for consecutive and simultaneous interpreting. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, court staff statewide shifted to remote interpreting with assistance from the Commission on Trial Court Performance and Accountability as the need for virtual remote interpreters increased significantly. 

Most circuits that did not have the infrastructure to facilitate virtual interpreting adopted a commercial videoconferencing platform for virtual remote interpreting. Using this solution allowed more circuits to begin using virtual remote interpreting and provide interpreting services more readily to court participants. The Commission continues to assess the need and opportunity for new strategies to increase access in Florida’s trial courts with virtual remote interpreting language services and beyond. 

Online Dispute Resolution Pilot Project

The Florida court system has a strong history of adopting digital strategies ahead of the national curve. Florida was one of the first states to create websites for its courts and one of the first to implement social media accounts to increase public accessibility. Now, partnered with the National Center for State Courts, Florida is also one of the first states to participate in an online dispute resolution program. Online dispute resolution is an alternative resolution solution for minor infractions such as traffic tickets or small claims that can easily be settled without formal adjudication in a courtroom. 

In September 2021, Chief Justice Canady issued an administrative order that extended the Online Dispute Resolution pilot through September 2022 to allow more circuits to participate. The pilot is underway for qualifying small claims in the Eighteenth Circuit and traffic citations in the Eleventh Circuit, both of which receive technical assistance from National Center for State Courts as needed. As one of the first states to pilot online dispute resolution, the Harvard Access to Justice Lab is collecting data from the Florida pilot and preparing a report with valuable data from pilots in other states. The Office of the State Courts Administrator will present a report to the Court based on the Harvard report and the state’s data collection in September 2022.