[N]ew language adopted in the budget bill last week would authorize the judiciary branch to hold some hearings in courthouses that cover as many as four counties.
The Senate Appropriations Committee accepted language that would allow the judicial branch to establish regions of up to four counties — a proposal termed “regional venue.” The plan would allow certain hearings for termination of parental rights cases to be held at any of the courthouses within those regions.
Currently, proceedings must be held in the county where the case was brought — which can pose scheduling difficulties in coordinating times for court officials and legal representatives who work across many counties. According to members of the judicial branch, this change could help the courts make better use of time and resources.
Chief Superior Judge Brian Grearson said that regional venues will help courts maximize judge time and allow residents involved with the court to have their cases heard.
“It will allow us to more efficiently process our cases,” Grearson said. “We can be more flexible with scheduling within a certain geographic area. That’s what it’s designed to do.”
Sen. Dick Sears, D-Bennington, said that the idea for regionalization for hearings involving terminating parental custody cases was floated last year, when legislators met for a special committee to study the state’s child protection system.
The language that the Senate Judiciary Committee recommended for the budget bill was a modified version of a proposal that originally came from the courts. That proposal would have allowed for regional venues for any proceeding other than cases involving a jury trial.
The regional venue proposal sparked concern among some communities that it could be a step toward consolidating courthouses in more populous parts of the state — and leaving rural counties without their local access to justice.
Doug DiSabito, the state’s attorney for Grand Isle County, viewed the judiciary’s original proposal as paving the way for the closure of the North Hero courthouse.
In the rural northwestern county, DiSabito said, there are very few state services readily available. As it is, the county courthouse only has a judge one day a week. Some weeks, there is no judge time, according to DiSabito.
“If they take our courthouse, it leaves us with almost nothing,” he said.
DiSabito said that even the scaled back proposal poses potential problems. Cases involving termination of a parent’s custody of a child are resource intensive and often take multiple days. The people involved in those cases are often low-income and have transportation barriers, he noted. Those issues would be exacerbated if hearings were relocated to the courthouse in Burlington or St. Albans.
“The greatest burden will be on these folks, yet these same folks face losing the most—their children,” DiSabito said in an email.
Grearson said that the policy is not a step toward closing courthouses, and said the state Supreme Court does not support closing county courthouses.
Vince Illuzzi, state’s attorney for Essex County, also aired concerns about the regional venue policy.
“If you think about it, what it does, is it requires the public to serve the judiciary instead of the judiciary serving the public in the most convenient venues around the state,” Illuzzi said.
Essex County also has a minimal amount of judge time, he said.
“So long as we have functioning courthouses that are taxpayer supported, we should use them,” Illuzzi said.
The Senate Appropriations Committee adopted a dozen proposals in total from their counterparts in the Judiciary Committee.
Lawmakers drew on recommendations from the judiciary branch on how the system could find budget savings, as well as other measures. The amendments that the Appropriations Committee accepted include:
• Removing a grandfathering provision for side judges in four counties to hear small claims actions;
• Commissioning a report on security budgets at county courthouses;
• Changing policies around delivering summonses, orders and warrants when someone fails to attend a preliminary hearing.
