OPTION TO ABOLISH JURY COMMISSIONERS - Legislation is moving that would provide an optional means to abolish the office of jury commissioner. The House Local Government Committee has reported out House Bills 2000 and 2001, which amend the County Code and the Second Class County Code to permit putting the question of abolishing the office of jury commissioner up for referendum, either by citizen petition or by action of the county commissioners. Representative RoseMarie Swanger (R-Lebanon) is the bills’ prime sponsor.
Provision of the option is a county priority for 2009, and recognizes that in most counties jury administration is performed by court administrator staff with few if any duties remaining for the jury commissioner. Abolition of the office would represent a savings for county taxpayers.
In a memo to the Committee, the Association noted that the bills give counties and their voters the opportunity to decide what best meets local needs and court administrative arrangements. The management of the jury system includes selecting and notifying individuals to serve on juries, determining who serves and who is excused, and managing jury schedules.
The flexibility to address the question county-by-county is essential, because the office has different responsibilities in different counties. Under the Judicial Code, the president judge has discretion to determine how the jury system is managed in the county, which includes determining the scope of responsibilities of the jury commissioner. Consequently, in some counties the office of jury commissioner is fully utilized, while in others it is obsolete based on judicial decision to administer the jury system by existing court administrative staff.
A number of counties have already eliminated the office under home rule charters or by special authority granted in the County Code. Counties with home rule charters that have abolished the office include Allegheny, Delaware, Erie, Lackawanna, Lehigh, Northampton, and Philadelphia. Counties that were authorized to abolish the office through legislation specific to their county include Dauphin and York (Act 79 of 1998), where the question was placed on the ballot, and Berks (Act 41 of 2002) by action of the commissioners. In these counties, the duties of administering the jury system are handled by court administrative staff or other arrangement with the court, with no loss of impartiality, no unnecessary administrative overhead, and no loss of constituent service.
LEGAL ADVERTISING OPTIONS NEEDED – The House of Representatives passed legislation this week that places a limit on the rates that newspapers of general circulation can charge political subdivisions for legal advertising, but has failed to act favorably on amendments and legislation that will improve accessibility to these notices and provide local governments real cost-savings by authorizing alternative formats for legal advertising.
CCAP has been advocating several pieces of legislation that give local governments the option to advertise electronically or in community papers of mass dissemination rather than in newspapers of general circulation. Securing the option is an important part of the Association’s mandate relief agenda, which is targeting changes to state law for outdated and unnecessary mandates in order to achieve local taxpayer savings.
As originally introduced by Rep. John Hornaman (D-Erie), the bill would have permitted local governments to fulfill legal advertising requirements through publication in community papers, defined as a newspaper in continuous publication that is published daily or two or more times per week, and is mailed or delivered to most households in the jurisdiction or widely available in numerous public locations. Rep. Mario Scavello (R-Monroe) has introduced similar legislation.
The House-considered bill, House Bill 1876, was earlier amended by the House Judiciary Committee to delete the mass dissemination language and instead place a limit on the advertising rates that can be charged by newspapers. The amendment, developed by the print media, provides that newspaper legal advertising charges cannot exceed 75% of the legal advertising rates in effect on July 1, 2009 (with a COLA), or 75% of the lowest base classified advertising rate charged to non-contractual commercial advertisers. Additionally, newspapers would be required to place the ads on their web sites at no charge.
Although it was portrayed on the floor by some House members as a compromise, no local government group had agreed to the language. Instead, local governments supported an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Tom Creighton (R-Lancaster), that would have restored the original community papers language. That amendment failed on a vote of 59 to 131. The bill then passed the House 127 to 62.
The Association maintains that as newspaper circulation continues to decline and the public turns to many other sources of news and information, there are more effective and widely available venues to provide notice to the public. CCAP continues to support legislation allowing advertising in community newspapers, and other alternatives such as SB 419 sponsored by Senator Robert Robbins (R-Mercer) which would allow an option to utilize electronic advertising for legal notices.
FULL TIME DA PAYMENT TO BE RELEASED – The office of Attorney General has advised CCAP that they have been authorized to release additional funds from the criminal justice enhancement account for reimbursement of district attorney salaries. Each qualified county will receive approximately $19,000 from this dispersal, and payments should be received in about 30 days. This is a partial payment toward the balance counties are owed for the commonwealth share from calendar year 2008.
There is a likelihood that additional disbursements will be made as the account balance grows during 2010, but there is no schedule of when they will be made or how much those disbursements will include. Act 49 of 2009, approved October 9, includes a permanent $2.25 ARD fee that is ultimately expected to be sufficient to meet the Commonwealth’s reimbursement obligation to counties.
SAMPLE BALLOTS ON COUNTY WEB SITES - On November 10, The House State Government Committee unanimously reported HB 1974, which would require the county board of elections to publish on the county’s public web site a sample ballot for each election district in the county, at least ten days prior to the election. Based on a brief, informal survey of election directors, CCAP learned that most counties are already posting sample ballots to their websites or plan to do so in the near future.
Members of the State Government Committee had concerns over additional costs incurred, especially in larger counties. The prime sponsor, Rep. Karen Boback (R-Luzerne) stated that counties are already required to have printed ballot samples at the polling places and suggested that counties could scan the ballots and place them on their web site at little additional cost.