Chapter 911 Oregon Laws 2001

AN ACT

HB 2424

Relating to citations; creating new provisions; and amending ORS 1.002 and 153.770.

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

SECTION 1. ORS 1.002 is amended to read:

1.002. (1) The Supreme Court is the highest judicial tribunal of the judicial department of government in this state. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the presiding judge of the court and the administrative head of the judicial department of government in this state. The Chief Justice shall exercise administrative authority and supervision over the courts of this state consistent with applicable provisions of law and the Oregon Rules of Civil Procedure. The Chief Justice, to facilitate exercise of that administrative authority and supervision, may:

(a) Make rules and issue orders appropriate to that exercise.

(b) Require appropriate reports from the judges, other officers and employees of the courts of this state and municipal courts.

(c) Pursuant to policies approved by the Judicial Conference of the State of Oregon, assign or reassign on a temporary basis all judges of the courts of this state to serve in designated locations within or without the county or judicial district for which the judge was elected.

(d) Set staffing levels for all courts of the state operating under the Judicial Department and for all operations in the Judicial Department.

(e) Establish time standards for disposition of cases.

(f) Establish budgets for the Judicial Department and all courts operating under the Judicial Department.

(g) Assign or reassign all court staff of courts operating under the Judicial Department.

(h) Pursuant to policies approved by the Judicial Conference of the State of Oregon, establish personnel rules and policies for judges of courts operating under the Judicial Department.

(i) Take any other action appropriate to the exercise of the powers specified in this section and other law, and appropriate to the exercise of administrative authority and supervision by the Chief Justice over the courts of this state.

(2) Subject to all other laws governing courts and court procedures, the Chief Justice may make rules for the use of electronic applications in the courts, including but not limited to rules relating to:

(a) Applications based on the use of the Internet and other similar technologies;

(b) Filing of electronic documents in court proceedings in lieu of hard copies of those documents;

(d) Electronic storage of court documents;

(e) Use of electronic citations in lieu of the paper citation forms as allowed under ORS 153.770, including use of electronic citations for parking ordinance violations that are subject to ORS 221.333 or 810.425;

[(e)] (f) Public access through electronic means to court documents that are required or authorized to be made available to the public by law; and

[(f)] (g) Transmission of open court proceedings through electronic media.

(3) Rules made and orders issued by the Chief Justice under this section shall permit as much variation and flexibility in the administration of the courts of this state as are appropriate to the most efficient manner of administering each court, considering the particular needs and circumstances of the court, and consistent with the sound and efficient administration of the judicial department of government in this state.

(4) The judges, other officers and employees of the courts of this state shall comply with rules made and orders issued by the Chief Justice. Rules and orders of a court of this state, or a judge thereof, relating to the conduct of the business of the court shall be consistent with applicable rules made and orders issued by the Chief Justice.

(5) The Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals and the presiding judge of each judicial district of this state are the administrative heads of their respective courts. They are responsible and accountable to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the exercise of their administrative authority and supervision over their respective courts. Other judges of the Court of Appeals or court under a presiding judge are responsible and accountable to the Chief Judge or presiding judge, and to the Chief Justice, in respect to exercise by the Chief Justice, Chief Judge or presiding judge of administrative authority and supervision.

(6) The Chief Justice may delegate the exercise of any of the powers specified by this section to the presiding judge of a court, and may delegate the exercise of any of the administrative powers specified by this section to the State Court Administrator, as may be appropriate.

(7) Subsections (1) to (4) of this section apply to justices of the peace and the justice courts of this state solely for the purpose of disciplining of justices of the peace and for the purpose of continuing legal education of justices of the peace.

SECTION 2. ORS 153.770 is amended to read:

153.770. (1) Notwithstanding ORS 1.525 [and], 153.045, 221.333 and 810.425, a law enforcement officer or a person authorized to enforce parking ordinance violations, following procedures established by court rule, may file a complaint with the court by electronic means, without an actual signature of the officer, in lieu of using a written uniform citation. Law enforcement officers who file complaints under this section will be deemed to certify to the complaint and will continue to have the same rights, responsibilities and liabilities in relation to those complaints as to complaints that are certified by an actual signature.

(2) A court may allow electronic filing of complaints as described under subsection (1) of this section. Procedures established to allow electronic filing of complaints under this section shall be established by court rule and shall include procedures necessary to ensure that:

(a) The information electronically filed includes all information required on a uniform citation adopted by the Supreme Court under ORS 1.525, or as required under ORS 221.333 and 810.425 for parking ordinance violations.

(b) The complaint filed electronically is verifiable as being filed by a specific law enforcement officer or, for parking ordinance violations, by a person authorized to enforce parking ordinance violations.

(c) Members of the public can obtain copies of and review complaints that are electronically filed and maintained under this section in the same manner as for complaints filed on paper.

SECTION 3. Before the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court adopts any rule for the use of electronic citations in lieu of paper citation forms for the purpose of ORS 153.770, the State Court Administrator shall report to the Joint Legislative Committee on Information Management and Technology on the manner in which electronic citations will be issued, the technology acquisitions that will be necessary by reason of the use of electronic citations and the anticipated impact of electronic citations on the operations of the courts of this state.

Approved by the Governor August 3, 2001

Filed in the office of Secretary of State August 6, 2001

Effective date January 1, 2002

__________