Arkansas Judiciary Annual Report 1998 - 1999

1998 - 1999 Year in Review

Fiscal year 1998-99 brought many changes and improvements to the Arkansas judicial system. Following are highlights of these activities.

Judicial Article

Comprehensive revision of Arkansas' 1874 Constitution was proposed but rejected by the voters in 1970 and 1980. Since that time, several single issue amendments affecting the judicial branch have been approved, including the creation of the Court of Appeals (1978), municipal court jurisdiction (1986), judicial discipline (1988), juvenile courts (1988), and, most recently, use of retired judges (1998). Despite the improvements which each of these amendments brought, there has remained a need for a comprehensive revision of the constitutional provisions involving the courts.

In 1998, after thorough study and review, the Arkansas Judicial Council and the Arkansas Bar Association approved a proposed Judicial Article to be submitted to the General Assembly. The legislature approved the document, and referred it to the voters for consideration in November, 2000.

Major provisions of the document include the unification of our state court structure by combining law and equity jurisdiction into one circuit court and the merger of several limited jurisdiction courts into one district court. A move from partisan to non-partisan election of all judges and a grant of authority to the Supreme Court to quickly hear and decide disputes involving proposed constitutional amendments in the future are also included.

Retired Judges Amendment

In 1984, the Arkansas Supreme Court declared that the appointment of retired judges to hear cases was unconstitutional. Since that time, only sitting judges have been assigned, taking away from their own dockets and decreasing the efficiency of the court system. In 1998, the voters approved a constitutional amendment authorizing the use of retired judges. In January, 1999, the Chief Justice began to assign retired judges, with their consent, to hear cases. The combination of the demand and need for these judicial resources and the willingness of many retired judges to hear cases has lead to a tremendous number of case assignments. Preliminary results show that the change has allowed cases to be heard in a more timely manner, and at much less expense to the citizens of Arkansas.

Court of Appeals Elections

The initial approval of the expansion of the membership of the Court of Appeals took place during the 1993 General Assembly. In 1995 and 1997, the legislature approved an appointment process which resulted in a full twelve member court in 1997, but no agreement could ever be reached on the establishment of judicial district boundaries for elections. In 1999, the General Assembly again delayed the final resolution of the matter, but set an election in 2000 for each of the appointed judges to stand for election in the current six Court of Appeals districts. The final decision for drawing of district lines is to be accomplished by the 2003 General Assembly, using year 2000 census data.

Foster Care Funding

The Supreme Court Committee on Foster Care and Adoption was successful in its three-year quest to secure funding for a program to provide ad litem counsel for all children in dependency-neglect proceedings. Over two million dollars was appropriated to the Administrative Office of the Courts to establish contracts with attorneys in each judicial district to provide these services. In addition, the Arkansas Supreme Court adopted Standards of Practice and Qualifications for Service for all attorneys providing such services. The legislation will bring closer the Supreme Court Committee's goal of insuring that every child in foster care is provided a team of assistance including an attorney ad litem and a trained CASA volunteer.

Support of Local CASA Programs

The State CASA Office in the Administrative Office of the Courts was successful in securing an additional one million dollars to distribute to local CASA programs to recruit and train volunteers to serve children in foster care. The funds will also be used to assist program start up and development in those judicial districts which do not currently have a CASA program.

Trial Judgeships and Districting

Unlike numerous changes in previous legislative sessions, the 1999 General Assembly made no revisions in the boundaries for judicial districts. One new circuit-chancery judgeship which was recommended by the Judicial Council was approved for the 5th Judicial District (Pope, Johnson and Franklin Counties), effective January 1, 2001. In addition, two other judgeships were approved by the legislature, one in the 3rd Judicial District (Randolph, Sharp, Lawrence and Johnson Counties) and one in the 1st Judicial District (Cross, Woodruff, St. Francis, Lee, Monroe and Phillips Counties). These judgeships, however, require post-legislative session review and approval by the Judicial Council.

State Funding of Trial Courts

The state continued its incremental shifting of the costs of the trial courts from county government to the state with the approval of the funding of the salaries of deputy prosecuting attorneys, effective January 1, 2000. The addition continues a deliberate plan which began in 1995 for state assumption of the costs of the court system.

Alternative Dispute Resolution

The state's reliance upon alternative methods for solving disputes was strengthened with two pieces of legislation approved by the 1999 General Assembly. The first provides funding to the Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission to encourage the development of local ADR programs of all types. The Commission's first grants aided municipal court small claims mediation, school-based violence prevention programs, juvenile court dependency-neglect mediation, and several training programs to increase the number and quality of persons providing mediation services. Other legislation made mandatory the use of divorce education and mediation with persons with children seeking a divorce in an Arkansas court.

Foreign Language Interpretation

The increase in the non-English speaking population of the state has produced unique demands upon the court system, one of which is the need for qualified interpreters. The Administrative Office of the Courts has provided deaf interpreter services for the courts for several years but has not given adequate attention to the need for qualified foreign language interpreters.

In 1999, the Supreme Court issued a per curiam setting out a certification process for all interpreters. The Arkansas AOC joined the National Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification of the National Center for State Courts and will begin a program of testing and certifying all court foreign language interpreters.

Jury Reform

While many states are studying and adopting changes in the way in which juries operate in the state court system, the Arkansas Judicial Council proposed and the General Assembly approved a simple but important change in the jury system: the rate of juror pay. Previously, jurors were paid a different rate in each county, with some counties paying as low as $5 per day. The new law provides a minimum rate of $35 per day.

Year 2000 Issues

The automation staff of the AOC completed evaluations and revisions in all operating systems and software of the appellate and trial courts and worked with city and county governments to insure that locally provided systems were Y2K compliant. The Supreme Court also published changes in court rules to require four rather than two digit year references in all docketing procedures.

Retirements / Appointments

The state judiciary lost the services of four excellent and experienced judges with the retirements of Circuit Judges Jack Graves and John Holland, Chancery Judge Lawrence Dawson, and Supreme Court Justice David Newbern.

The appellate courts welcomed the addition of Justice Lavenski Smith, who was appointed by the Governor to serve in the remaining Supreme Court term of Justice Newbern, and Judge Jo Hart, who was elected to a full term on the Court of Appeals.

Newly elected trial judges include Ken Coker, Gary Cottrell, Duncan Culpepper, Alan Epley, Michael Fitzhugh, Bynum Gibson, Mary Ann Gunn, Edwin Keaton, David Laser, Jim Marschewski, Grisham Phillips, Mackie Pierce, John Thomas, John Homer Wright, and Stacey Zimmerman.

Fiscal year 1998-99 brought many changes and improvements to the Arkansas judicial system. Following are highlights of these activities.

Timeline
1927:	Allowed civil trial verdicts by less than unanimous juries.
1936:	Removed requirement of grand juries and allowed prosecuting attorneys to file charges directly.
1977:	Act 432 combined the separate circuit and chancery districts into 20 unified circuits.
1979:	First "circuit-chancery" judgeships created.
1981:	Act 489 mandated Judicial Department to formulate and implement a system of uniform case counting across the state.
1981:	Act 16 provided state funding (Ex.Sess.) for court reporters for all trial judges.