MONTHLY REPORT CHANGES

1
MONTHLY REPORT CHANGES

• County District Clerk Association Meeting,
  Region 8
• October 2, 2008

2
Monthly Reports

• Why and how the district and county-level court
  reports were reviewed and changed
• Major changes made in the monthly reports
• What OCA is doing to assist you in implementation
  process
• What you need to do

3
Who Decides What Data Will Be Collected

• Texas Judicial Council
• Sec. 71.035(b), Government Code
• Ch. 171, Administrative Code
• Legislature
• Supreme Court

4
Why Monthly Reporting Forms Were Reviewed and
Changed

• 1985 Last major review and amendment of the
  district and county court monthly reporting forms
• 2002 Judicial Council Committee on Judicial Data
  Management asked OCA to assemble workgroup of
  clerks and other interested parties to recommend
  changes to reports

5
Why Monthly Reporting Forms Were Reviewed and
Changed

• 2003, 2005 2007 Legislature attached a rider
  to the Appropriations Act providing that OCA
• should revise its reporting system for the trial
  courts in order to simplify reporting and to
  improve data collection and compliance...

6
Process for Review of Monthly Reports and
Adoption of Changes

• District and statutory county court judges ?
  presiding judges of administrative judicial
  regions
• Probate/MH judges ? presiding judge of statutory
  probate courts
• Constitutional county court judges ? Texas
  Association of Counties
• Clerks ? District Court Alliance and County and
  District Clerks Association

7
Development of Proposals
Supreme Court Court of Criminal Appeals Senate
Jurisprudence Legislative Budget Board Dept. of
Public Safety
Task Force on Indigent Defense Guardianship
Certification Board Task Force on Child
Protection Case Mgmt Reporting Council on
Family Violence
8
New Reporting Forms Instructions
Effective September 1, 2010 Posted
at http//www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/required.as
p

9
Major Changes

• Separate reports for constitutional county courts
  and statutory county courts
• Statutory county court report
• Civil, family felony sections identical to
  district court report
• Misdemeanors probate/guardianship/mental health
  sections identical to constitutional county court
  report

10
District Statutory County Courts

• In counties where district courts and county
  courts at law have concurrent jurisdiction, where
  there is an exchange of benches system, transfers
  of cases between courts, and/or the district
  clerk is the records keeper, please note that
  activity should be reported for court that
  handled the case

11
Major Changes

• Criminal section Sentencing information

a. Committed Directly to Prison b. Committed
Directly to State Jail c. Committed Directly to
Local Jail d. Probation/Community Supervision e.
Shock Probation f. Fine Only g. Other
12
Major Changes

• Family Law Section Expanded to 15 categories

13
Major Changes

• Juvenile section expanded to 16 categories

14
Major Changes

• Other Proceedings section eliminatedcases to be
  reported in Civil Cases Related to Criminal
  Matters category in Civil section

15
Major Changes

• Probate section
• Almost entirely new
• Court responsible for monitoring many cases for
  extended/indefinite period of time
• Aging population leading to growth in
  guardianship cases

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Tracking/counting activity

• Data elements tied to documents whenever possible
• Hearings critical measure of workload in probate,
  guardianship mental health cases
• Ch. 683 investigations, reports/accounts filed
  indications of judges oversight responsibility

18
Additional Court Activity

• Data elements tied to documents whenever possible
• Injunction/Show Cause Order Issued
• Protective Orders Signed

19
Additional Court Activity

• Some elements will require courts clerks to
  create new processes track, store, and share
  information
• Release or transfer hearings held (determinate
  sentence proceedings)
• Cases set for review

20
Major Changes Active/Inactive Pending Cases

• ACTIVE
• INACTIVE
• REACTIVATED
• These categories allow for a better understanding
  of court workload and case flow management.

21
Major Changes Active/Inactive

• Active Cases are those cases that the court has
  control over and are awaiting disposition.

22
Major Changes Active/Inactive

• Inactive Cases are cases over which the court
  does not have control.
• Examples of inactive criminal cases include
• defendant absconded and a warrant for arrest has
  been issued
• defendant committed to a mental health facility
• defendant otherwise unavailable for adjudication.

23
Major Changes Active/Inactive

• Examples of inactive civil cases include
• One of the parties has filed for bankruptcy and
  the case is subject to an automatic stay
• Cases delayed due to the Soldiers Sailors
  Civil Relief Act
• The case has been abated.

24
Major Changes Active/Inactive

• Reactivated Cases cases previously placed in
  inactive pending status, but for which further
  court proceedings and activities can be resumed
  so that the court can proceed to disposition
  (e.g., criminal defendant is arrested.)

25
Major Changes Age of Cases

• Aging clock stops when case made inactive
• Clock resumes when case reactivated

26
Age of Cases Disposed
Defendant apprehended returned to court, case
reactivated
Filing of indictment
120 days
30 days
30 days
90 days
Defendant absconds, warrant issued
Defendant placed on probation, case disposed
27
Assistance to Clerks

• Model Case Cover Sheets
• Alleviates burden on clerk to determine nature of
  case
• May be modified for local use
• OCA will seek Supreme Court Rule mandating use of
  civil and family law cover sheet

28
Assistance to Clerks

• Guidelines for Transition to New Judicial Council
  Reports

29
Classifying Pending Cases
30
Assistance to Clerks

• Clerk Implementation Team providing guidance and
  assistance
• Notify judges of upcoming monthly reporting
  changesnewsletters, judicial conferences

31
Assistance to Clerks

• Creation of Frequently Asked Questions webpage
• Meeting of case management vendors November ?
• Training on how to complete new reports

32
Family Case Categories
Current
Proposed Changes
33
District Civil Section Changes to Case
Categories
34
District Criminal Section Classification of DPS
Offense Codes
35
District Civil Section Case Category Examples
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When should I start?

• Now!
• Analyze and plan for changes in processes,
  information flow, case management systems
• Implement changes
• Test changes
• Test reports

38
When should I start?

• Implementation Team strongly recommends using new
  case categories by
• January 1, 2009
• Or as soon as possible thereafter

39
When should I start?

• Even though new categories will be being used,
  reports from your case management system may be
  modified to count the cases according to the case
  categories used on the old report form.

40
When should I start?

• Or manually enter information into current report
  form
• For the most part, add new categories together
  and put totals in 1 current case category

41
When should I start?

• Medical Malpractice Other Professional
  Malpractice Product Liability Asbestos/Silica
  Other Product Liability Other Injury or
  Damage Injury/Damage Other than Motor Vehicle
• Add all subcategories of Delinquent Conduct cases
  Delinquent Conduct

42
Questions

• Angela Garcia, Judicial Information Manager
• Angela.Garcia_at_courts.state.tx.us
• [phone] phone
• [phone] fax
• http//www.courts.state.tx.us/oca/required.asp