Supreme Court (111)
Authority: §§ 16.1-69.30, 16.1-69.33, 17.1-314 through 17.1-320 and 17.1-502, Code of Virginia. A. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall submit an annual fiscal year summary, on or before September 1 of each year, to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees and to the Director, Department of Planning and Budget, which will report the number of individuals for whom legal or medical services were provided and the nature and cost of such services as are authorized for payment from the criminal fund or the involuntary mental commitment fund. B. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 19.2-326, Code of Virginia, the amount of attorney's fees allowed counsel for indigent defendants in appeals to the Supreme Court shall be in the discretion of the Supreme Court. C. The Chief Justice is authorized to reallocate legal support staff between the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals of Virginia, in order to meet changing workload demands. D. Prior to January 1 of each year, the Judicial Council and the Committee on District Courts are requested to submit a fiscal impact assessment of their recommendations for the creation of any new judgeships, including the cost of judicial retirement, to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on Courts of Justice, and the House Appropriations and Senate Finance Committees. E. Included in this Item is $3,750,000 the first year and $3,750,000 the second year from the general fund, which may support computer system improvements for the several circuit and district courts. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall submit an annual report to the Director, Department of Planning and Budget on or before September 1 of each year outlining the improvement projects undertaken and the project status of each project. Each project in the report should include the life to date cost of the project, the amount spent on the project in the most recently completed fiscal year, the year the project began, the estimated cost to complete the remainder of the project and an estimated project completion date. F. Given the continued concern about providing adequate compensation levels for court-appointed attorneys providing criminal indigent defense in the Commonwealth, the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court, in conjunction with the Governor, Attorney General, Indigent Defense Commission, representatives of the Indigent Defense Stakeholders Group and Chairmen of the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees, shall continue to study and evaluate all available options to enhance Virginia’s Indigent Defense System. G. In addition to any filing fee or other fee permitted by law, an electronic access fee may be charged for each case filed electronically pursuant to Rule 1:17 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia. The amount of this fee shall be set by the Supreme Court of Virginia. Moneys collected pursuant to this fee shall be deposited into the State Treasury to the credit of the Courts Technology Fund established pursuant to § 17.1-132, to be used to support the costs of statewide electronic filing systems. H. 1. No state funds used to support the operation of drug court programs shall be provided to programs that serve first-time substance abuse offenders only or do not include probation violators. This restriction shall not apply to juvenile drug court programs. 2. Not 3. The evaluation of drug treatment court programs required by § 18.2-254.1 shall include the collection of data needed for outcome measures, including recidivism. Drug treatment court programs shall provide to the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court the information needed to conduct such an evaluation. I. Notwithstanding the provisions of § 16.1-69.48, Code of
Virginia, the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall ensure the deposit
of all Commonwealth collections directly into the State Treasury for Item
J. Included in this appropriation, $290,000 the first year and $240,000 the second year from the general fund is provided to implement the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program established by §17.1-100 of the Code of Virginia. K. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court shall review the impact on the court system, fiscal and operational, of allowing a single petition in juvenile and domestic relations district court case involving two or more children if such children have the same parents or legal guardians. The Executive Secretary shall report his findings to the Chairmen of the House Appropriations, Senate Finance, House Courts of Justice and Senate Courts of Justice Committees by November 1, 2014. |