State of the Judiciary Address

In years past, the state of the judiciary presentation has been much like a report card. There have been too many subjects to talk about and it has been too long. This year I would like to do something different. I have identified several important topics to address and I will leave the remainder to a letter that you will receive and read, or not, at your leisure. This will allow me to include some remarks that I think are even more important to present today. The General Assembly left town without a budget. This is nothing to be unduly worried about. It has happened before and most certainly it will happen again. Not only are there differences of opinion concerning expenditures in the budget, there are significant issues about sources of revenue. I have no doubt that our legislature, after a 2 few rounds, will emerge from the fray with a workable budget for the Commonwealth. The General Assembly requested the court to present an updated weighted caseload study to them prior to the 2018 Session. You will recall that the 2014 caseload study had recommended 429 judgeships. In the 2018 fiscal year we had only 407 funded judgeships. Quite a few judges were somewhat unhappy that they were being asked to keep track of time spent on specific cases again. A few said that they had left law practice in part so that they would not have to keep time. I am sympathetic. And I thank you for your efforts. As I am sure you know, a statute defines the number and location of authorized judges. We now have 435 authorized judges. But that alone does not get a warm body on the bench. There must be an appropriation. With retirements and accompanying uncertainty with the budget, we currently will have 402 funded positions on July 1, 2018. In the days and weeks ahead, I