Legislative and Government Affairs

December 4, 2014

Tallahassee, Florida

LEGISLATIVE AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Christopher Campbell, Director

Cyndi Andrews, Court Services Specialist

Alex Nicholas, Manager

Sara Sanders, Legislative Analyst

Beth Allman, Senior Manager

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Legislative and Government Affairs

• Best Practices and Records

• Statutory Reporting, Assessment and

Collection

• Legislative Affairs

• Distribution Schedule

• Member Information Program

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Legislative and Government Affairs

• Part of the Association, our team provides

support to the elected Clerks of Court and

their staff, outside state agencies, including

Legislative staff, and the general public

• The team does research on various issues and

develops documentation for Clerks’ operations

• For critical issues throughout the state, the

team provides coordination and situation

resolution on behalf of the Clerks

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BEST PRACTICES AND RECORDS

Cyndi Andrews, Court Services Specialist

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Best Practices

• During the course of the year, the Best Practices Committee, chaired by the Honorable Marcia Johnson, Franklin County, chooses topics that are suggested for study and development into a Best Practice for Clerks’ Offices

• Once chosen, an issue is studied by experienced Clerk’s and association staff before presented to the Committee

• Routed through an approval process for publication.

• Working on a Best Practices Certification for Clerk’s Offices

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Best Practices Approved in 2014examples

1. Determination of Indigency (Revised)

2. Public Records Requests

3. Evidence Storage and Destruction (Revised)

4. Statewide Portal Guidelines

5. Standard Document Groups

6. Standard Docket Descriptions-Criminal

7. Orders Modifying Sentences

8. Reporting Mental Health to MECOM

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Records

• Clerks of the Court are the Keeper of the Record

• The public records are found in the court-side, the county-side and in the administrative side of Clerk’s Offices

• Records issues can appear in many areas, from retention, to redaction, to what can be recorded. Office emails are public in the Clerk’s Office

• Access to court records is currently being discussed in light of a recent Supreme Court order.

• The Records Committee is chaired by The Honorable Gail Wadsworth, Flagler County Clerk

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STATUTORY REPORTING

Alex Nicholas, Manager

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Statutory Reporting

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Statutory Reporting:• List of Clerks' Court-Related and Other Mandatory

Reports for:

Performance Reporting, Jury, Finance, Human

Resources, Criminal, Domestic Relations, Child

Support, Juvenile, Probate and Statistics as

required by statutes

Contains report category, name of report,

statutory authority, recipient and due date

Statutory Reporting

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Assessment and Collections Report• The Assessment and Collection Report is an annual

compilation of the Clerks’ recording of mandatory

and discretionary fines, fees and court costs

assessed by the Courts and money collected by the

Clerks

• Assessments and Collections Report is data

processed by the Court Clerks and provided to the

Legislature annually and used by the Legislative

decision-makers

LEGISLATIVE AND GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Sara Sanders, Legislative Analyst

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Legislative Program

• Provides support to the Honorable Karen Rushing, Legislative Chair, and Legislative Committee in the preparation of each year’s legislative agenda

• Tracks Clerk-related bills, respond to bill analysis requests, provide bill summaries, as needed

• Assists with legislative research, analysis, and formulation of reports, talk sheets, presentations, and any other necessary materials

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Legislative Program

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• At the conclusion of legislative session, prepares

annual Legislation of Interest document and

related advisories summarizing those identified

bills of interest, identifying key Clerk and

Comptroller points

• Annually updates and distributes the

Mandatory/Discretionary Form Matrix, pursuant

to Florida Statutes,

• Assists FCCC Support Desk and IT staff in

answering system access questions from Clerk

and non-Clerk users of the Comprehensive Case

Information System (CCIS)

REVENUE AND REMITTANCE, MEMBER INFORMATION PROGRAM

Beth Allman, Senior Manager, Government Affairs

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Revenue and Remittance

• The Distribution Schedule of Court-Related Filing

Fees, Services Charges, Costs and Fines shows

the breakouts for court-related fees and fines

and to what state trust fund they are owed

• The Records Committee has inserted a schedule

for the recording fees as well

• It is used as a guide for setting up Clerk

financial systems

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Revenue and Remittance

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• Developed in 2004, the Distribution Schedule aligns with the Department of Revenue (DOR) Clerks’ payment portal that Clerks are required to use

• The DOR portal allows to Clerks to send all

monies due to the state, by fund, by bank

account

• The Distribution Schedule has been widely

recognized and accepted by the legislature,

the trial courts, and local offices

Member Information Program

• Legislative and Government Affairs handles a

variety of information topics

• Members are advised through the advisory or

alert process, or guidance documentation on

issues of importance to Clerk’s offices

• Also handle contacts made by state agencies, the

Governor’s Office, news outlets, Clerks,

disgruntled constituents

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Legislative and Government Affairs

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•Best Practices and Records

•Statutory Reporting, Assessment and Collection

•Legislative Affairs

•Distribution Schedule

•Member Information Program

Legislative and Government Affairs

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There is a wealth of information on the Intranet.

• Best Practices http://www.flclerks.com/Intranet/Clerk_of_Court/Best_Practices/index_BP.html

• Assessment and Collection• http://www.flclerks.com/Intranet/Clerk_Info/a_c_reports.html

• Distribution Schedule• http://www.flclerks.com/Intranet/Clerk_Info/Misc_PDF/2014_docs/2014_Dis

tribution_Schedule_with_codes-7-1-2014-10-2014_FINAL.pdf

• Legislative Materialshttp://www.flclerks.com/Intranet/Clerk_Info/legislate.html