House Journal: Page 59: Wednesday, January 12, 2000
and court personnel, who are committed to excellence, to do so. However, as envisioned
by our government’s founders, we must rely on you for the resources we need to carry
out our enormous responsibilities.
Over the years, we have accomplished much by working together. Many of the
court reforms and innovations I mentioned earlier were successful, in large part, only
because of your commitment of sufficient resources. Together we can accomplish much
more. Some present concerns need your attention and support.
EDMS. To provide the best possible public service, the court system must continue
to innovate. Efforts are now underway to test an advanced technology - electronic data
management systems or EDMS. This technology will revolutionize court services. It
will enable litigants and others to file their court documents and to access court records
on-line through their computers. This will reduce the flood of paper inundating our
county courthouses to a trickle and take the concept of court beyond the four walls of a
courthouse.
We have enough funds in our Enhanced Court Collections Fund to test the system
in two counties this year. We hope by next year to be able to present to you a plan for
funding statewide implementation.
Courthouse Security. Another issue that requires your attention concerns safety.
We obviously must do our utmost to ensure the safety of every citizen who comes to the
courthouse.
The Judicial Branch has already taken several important steps to achieve this
fundamental goal. With the help of local leaders, a statewide task force evaluated the
level of security in each county courthouse. It developed standards that county and
local court officials can use as a guide for security improvements; and it determined
what was needed to bring security levels up to par with the standards.
I want to commend the task force members and the state and local officials who,
recognizing the critical nature of courthouse security, participated in the statewide
evaluation and study. Under our state funding statutory scheme, the counties are
responsible for maintaining courthouse facilities and providing security. Because of
these responsibilities, the counties play a pivotal role in protecting citizens from
violence in the courthouse. But the counties need some financial assistance for security
improvements. We have a plan for a state grant program that would help counties
shoulder the cost of non-personnel improvements needed to bring courthouse security
up to the statewide standards. Let’s not wait for a tragedy to occur. For the safety of
our constituents, the Judicial Branch, the Legislature, and the Governor, must work
closely with each other, and with the counties, to fund courthouse security.
Judicial Formulas. The third concern that requires your continuing attention
involves judicial resources.
Last session, you instructed us to evaluate the soundness of the statutory judgeship
formulas. We have, and this is what we found. The current methods for determining
judgeship needs in Iowa are inadequate. They are inadequate because they are based
primarily upon population rather than caseload. There is a huge gap between Iowa’s
population growth, which has been modest, and Iowa’s caseload growth, which has
skyrocketed. The judicial formulas do not accurately measure need because they do not
© 2000 Cornell College and
League of Women Voters of Iowa
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