Florida should reject the idea of consolidating some of its judicial circuits as a way to increase efficiency or save taxpayer dollars, a statewide committee of judges, attorneys and other judicial system stakeholders has agreed.
The Judicial Circuit Assessment Committee, which was appointed by the Florida Supreme Court’s chief justice, Carlos Muñiz, back in June, voted unanimously against a proposal by Florida House Speaker Paul Renner to examine consolidating some of the state’s 20 judicial districts.
The vote came during a virtual meeting held using Zoom earlier this month. A draft report about the committee’s findings is expected to be released later this week, according to the panel’s meeting schedule.
“The committee members’ public deliberation and unanimous vote on Nov. 3 reflected their collective observation that the submitted data, survey responses and public testimony did not demonstrate any significant justification to support consolidation,” the panel’s chairman, Judge Jonathan Gerber of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, said in a statement emailed to the Florida Record. “The committee’s report, which is due to the Supreme Court by Dec. 1, will discuss that information and recommendation in greater detail.”
But regardless of the committee’s recommendations, the state Supreme Court, the legislative branch and the executive branch have the authority to make their own decisions about the need for consolidation of the judicial districts, based on the language of a judicial rule and the state constitution, state court officials said..
A statewide public survey conducted by the committee showed that 93.5% of the 2,087 respondents said “No” to this question: Would the effectiveness of the judicial circuit be improved through consolidation with another judicial circuit?
In addition, representatives of major court stakeholders, including the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association, Florida Public Defender Association and Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, have all come out in opposition to the consolidation proposal.
In a June 15 letter to the chief justice, Renner pointed out that the state’s judicial districts have remained unchanged for decades despite major demographic changes in Florida.
“The size of our judicial circuits varies widely, ranging from approximately 2.7 million people (in the 11th Circuit) to less than 100,000 people (in the 16th District),” the speaker said. “I believe that the consolidation of circuits might lead to greater efficiencies and uniformity in the judicial process, thereby increasing public trust and confidence.”
Consolidation could also lead to better economies of scale within the judicial branch, leading to the potential saving of taxpayer revenue, according to Renner.
In his June 30 response that led to the formation of the committee, Muñiz did not express a position on the merits of consolidation but said that the idea merited a thorough review and surveys of stakeholders.
In the public survey carried out statewide, 63% of respondents said their judicial circuits stay current with their caseload, and 66.8% agreed that their circuits have adequate procedures to ensure efficient and timely case resolutions.
Two-thirds of respondents answered “Yes” to the following question: Does the judicial circuit use its resources, case-management techniques and technologies to improve the efficient adjudication of cases, research of legal issues and issuance of decisions?