North Dakota Courts Annual Report 2005

Ultimate responsibility for the efficient and effective operation of the judicial system resides with the Supreme Court. The Constitution establishes the Supreme Court's administrative responsibility for the judicial system by designating the chief justice as the administrative head of the judicial system. In addition, the state constitution also grants the Supreme Court supervisory authority over the legal profession. ArticleVI, Section3, states that the Supreme Court shall have the authority, "unless otherwise provided by law, to promulgate rules and regulations for the admission to practice, conduct, disciplining, and disbarment of attorneys at law."

To help it fulfill these administrative and supervisory responsibilities, the Supreme Court relies upon the state court administrator, presiding judges, and various advisory committees, commissions, and boards. The functions and activities of these various bodies during 2003 are described in the subsequent pages of this report.

A diagram of the administrative organization of the North Dakota judicial system is provided below.

 Article VI, Section 3, of the North Dakota Constitution authorizes the chief justice of the Supreme Court to appoint a court administrator for the unified judicial system. Pursuant to this constitutional authority, the Supreme Court has outlined the powers, duties, qualifications, and term of the state court administrator in Administrative Rule1. The duties delegated to the state court administrator include assisting the Supreme Court in the preparation and administration of the judicial budget, providing for judicial education services, coordinating technical assistance to all levels of courts, planning for statewide judicial needs, and administering a personnel system.

Judicial Education

The Office of State Court Administrator, under the guidance of the Commission on Judicial Education and through the Education and Special Projects Coordinator, develops and implements education programs for all judicial and non-judicial personnel. To supplement the education programs presently being offered, an audio and video library has been established and is housed in the Supreme Court Law Library. To compliment this library, the UND Law School provides materials upon request.

Research and Planning

Staff services are provided to the Judicial Planning Committee and other advisory committees of the Supreme Court by staff in the office of state court administrator. The duties of these staff personnel include research, bill drafting, rule drafting, arrangement of committee meetings, and any other tasks assigned by various committees. Specific activities and projects of the Supreme Court standing committees are provided in a latter section of this report.

Personnel Management

To ensure uniformity in personnel administration across districts, personnel policies and a pay and classification plan for district court employees were developed under the direction of the state court administrator. This program is administered by the director of human resources. The Personnel Policy Board provides policy direction.

Fiscal Responsibilities

One of the primary functions of the Office of State Court Administrator is to obtain adequate financial resources for judicial operations and to manage these resources. These functions are met with fiscal personnel consisting of a director of finance, supervisor of accounting, and technical staff. With the assistance of fiscal staff, the various judicial budgets are developed for funding consideration by the Legislative Assembly. The Supreme Court budget request is developed with input from Supreme Court department heads. The Judicial Conduct Commission and Disciplinary Board budget request is developed by their staff. The district court budget is coordinated by fiscal staff and prepared by each of the four administrative units with a joint recommendation of approval from the Administrative Council.

A monitoring function is carried out on a monthly basis with an analysis of the budget and preparation of status reports after the monthly payroll and other expenditures have been processed. Guidance for approval of various expenditures is found in budgetary policies.

In viewing the judicial budget, it should be noted that the state funds the Supreme Court, the Judicial Conduct Commission, approximately one-half of the expenses of the Disciplinary Board, and district court expenses including 11 of the largest clerk of district court offices. The remaining clerk offices are funded by the state with a service contract. Municipal courts are funded by the municipalities they serve.

Information Technology

The State Court Administrator's Office is responsible for providing information technology services to the judicial branch. These services are provided through the judicial branch Information Technology Department.

In addition to supporting the many standard off-the-shelf office productivity tools in use within the judicial branch, the Information Technology Department is responsible for development and support of the case management system for the district court, the unified court information system (UCIS), support of the juvenile court information system, support of the jury management system, as well as development and support of the other various custom software systems in use within the judiciary.

The Information Technology Department provides email services and anti-spam filter services to all judicial employees and contract employees, web site hosting for the state court web site (www.ndcourts.com), data server hosting for all judicial employees, and server operations and maintenance for the information system.

Through the judicial branch help desk, judicial employees can receive support, ask questions, and get problems resolved related to the information systems, software, and hardware they use.

The Information Technology Department offers standard and custom technology training to judicial branch employees.

Through the unified court information system and the Data Warehouse, the Information Technology Department provides access to district court case information to over 725 court and non-judicial personnel.

Total State General and Special Funds Appropriation
 $5,752,673,790
Executive and Legislative Branch General and Special Funds Appropriation
 $5,684,775,450 (99%)
Judicial Branch General and Special Funds Appropriation
 $ 67,898,340 ( 1%)

Total Judicial Branch General and Special
Funds Appropriation $67,898,340
Salaries and Benefits $43,475,199 (64%)
Operating Expenses $12,622,041 (19%)
Indigent Defense $10,058,368(15%)
Capital Assets $ 193,500( 0%)
Special Purposes $ 1,549,232( 2%)

District Courts
 General Fund$56,257,750
 Federal Funds 1,219,957
 Special Funds 1,220,000
 TOTAL   $58,697,707(86%)

Judicial Conduct Commission & Disciplinary Board
 General Fund$ 320,009
 Special Funds 287,521
 TOTAL    $ 607,530( 1%)