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Vermont court system officials are seeking nearly $10 million as they prepare to adjust the state’s judicial branch operations in light of the coronavirus.
The funding would invest in new technology to allow for remote work, support the redesign of Vermont’s courthouses to align with social distancing practices, and help the courts get through the backlog of cases that have built up since the judiciary suspended all non-emergency proceedings in March.
Patricia Gabel, Vermont’s court administrator, told the Senate Judiciary Committee during a video meeting Wednesday that the judiciary is seeking to cover those added expenses with funding from the $1.25 billion the state has been allotted through the federal CARES Act to pay for Covid-19 costs.
Gabel presented a proposal that included an ask of $5,462,000 for the current fiscal year, as well as another $4,040,000 for the fiscal year 2021 budget. Together, the request totals $9,502,000.
“In order to meet our core constitutional obligations, while promoting public health and protecting the health of our workforce,” Gabel wrote in a memo to the panel, “the Judiciary must quickly make a host of short, medium, and long term changes during this calendar year in order to meet our core constitutional obligations.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington and chair of the committee, said while his panel can make a recommendation, the proposal would still need the review of other money committees.
“I’m glad we’re preparing,” Sears said of the proposal, later adding, “It is what has to be done.”
Gabel said that the request is still being fine-tuned.
Technology is the biggest expense in the proposal for the current fiscal year’s budget adjustment. The judiciary is seeking a total of $2.3 million for remote technology for court proceedings, such as video systems for all the courtrooms and computers to support remote work.
The judiciary is also looking to make investments to support public access to court proceedings digitally; $1.5 million is sought in the budget adjustment act for teleconference equipment for courtrooms, and a total of $250,000 for 12 “limited service positions” to support live streaming of public video hearings.
“Developing alternate ways to protect and enable the public’s right to observe court proceedings will help mitigate the serious constitutional concerns that might arise from an extended exclusion of the public,” Gabel wrote in her memo.
The budget proposal also includes measures to adjust courthouses to handle in-person business in line with safety precautions. The judiciary is seeking $750,000 to pay for personal protective equipment and workspace changes to align with social distancing practices. The initiative would involve redesigning work stations and installing plexiglass barriers and shields to allow for separation between court staff and the public.
Another $90,000 is requested for fiscal year 2021 to cover the cost of a position to help manage and oversee those redesigns.
“We don’t have cookie cutter courthouses, each one’s unique,” Gabel said.
The budget adjustment request also includes $30,000 to redesign courtrooms for jury trials to ensure social distance, as well as another $50,000 for fiscal year 2021 for leased courtroom space.
In some of the state’s courtrooms, Gabel told the Senate panel, design issues and tight spaces will make it challenging to select a jury from a large pool of people while also following social distancing guidelines.
“Maybe we have to do that in a theater rather than a courthouse,” Gabel said, adding, “That’s not something I’m proposing.”
Sears asked how lawyers during a trial would be able to have conferences out of the earshot of jurors with a judge at the bench while maintaining proper spacing.
“It will be different,” Gabel said.
Part of the funding would go toward bringing retired judges back to court to hear a backlog of cases that have been on hold since March due to the Covid-19 outbreak and the suspension of court proceedings not deemed an emergency. The courts are asking for $100,000 for that initiative.
A great deal of the discussion during Wednesday’s legislative meeting focused on the resources that will be needed to handle the backlog of cases that will be taken up once the suspension of all but emergency court proceedings is lifted.
“I’m curious as to how we’re going to roll this out,” Sears said. “I can just see this rush of people.”
Gabel responded that the Vermont Supreme Court, which oversees the state’s court system, has established a committee to help address that issue.
“That committee is still doing its work,” she said, adding that the budget proposals she presented are a step in the process.
“For us to be ready to provide the support to the courts in order to do this roll-out,” Gabel added, “we have to buy the equipment now, we have to train the judges now, so that we’re ready as this slow roll-out takes place.”
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Read the story on VTDigger here: Judiciary pitches nearly $10M plan to address Covid-19 concerns.