OCA REPORTING. Presented by. Sandra Mabbett Judicial Education Analyst Office of Court Administration

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EDUCATION CENTER

2210 HANCOCK DRIVE, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78756 TELEPHONE 512.320.8274 1.800.252.3718 FAX 512.435.6118

OCA REPORTING

Presented by

Sandra Mabbett Judicial Education Analyst Office of Court Administration

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Name common mistakes made by courts in collecting and reporting court costs;

2. Cite where court costs are located in the statutes;

3. Describe how costs are reported to the State Comptroller of Public Accounts; and

4. List the different costs that apply to municipal court cases.

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OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION

All About Reporting to OCA

Sandra Mabbett Judicial Information Analyst

Who Determines What is Collected?

Judicial Council

Government Code Sec. 71.035

Determines content of monthly court reports through rule making

Creates statutes mandating collection of specific information

Texas Judicial Council – Ch. 71, Government Code

Judicial Council Judicial Council

OCA OCA

Chief Justice, Supreme Court Presiding Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals Senators (2)

Representatives (2) Courts of Appeals Justices (2) District Judges (2) County Judges (2) Justices of the Peace (2) Municipal Judges (2) Citizen Members (6)

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Gather judicial statistics and other pertinent information from judges and other court officials

Purpose is to support Judicial Council’s mission:

Continuously study the courts and methods for their improvement

Consider advice concerning remedies for faults in the administration of justice

Design methods for simplifying judicial procedure, expediting the transaction of judicial business, and correcting faults in or improving the administration of justice

Judicial Council Charges

Government Code Secs. 71.031 ‐ .035

Legislative Requirements to Report to Judicial Council/OCA

Statute Content

Monthly Court Activity Report

Government Code, Ch. 71.035 Judicial Council shall collect statistics (Monthly Court Activity Report) – requirements detailed in Ch. 171, Administrative Code Appointments and fees

Government Code, Ch. 36 Clerk of each court to prepare on court appointments made and fees approved

Judicial Council Monthly Court Activity Reports

(aka “The OCA Report”)

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Reporting Requirements

Report due 20^thof each month

Must submit report each month even if no activity Submit onlineat card.txcourts.gov unless waiver received from OCA

Enter manually into database OR

Upload a file (xml)

Reporting Requirements

What sections of report to complete?

Be safe, complete them all OR

Complete all sections over which court has jurisdiction

If the court has jurisdiction over a particular case type, a report must be submitted every month, whether or not there is activity to report

Resources

www.txcourts.gov

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http://www.txcourts.gov/reporting‐to‐oca/judicial‐council‐trial‐

court‐activity‐reports/justice‐municipal‐court‐reports/

Suggest:

Creating a bookmark Printing instructions

Viewing Webinars

Resources/Assistance – Not Available from OCA

Codes used to track information in your case management system

Programming your case management system, development of reports from your case management system, creation of an XML file to report to OCA

Contact your vendor/local IT staff for assistance

Scope of Information

Report is not all encompassing

Judge‐centered

Measures inputs and outputs

Includes 5 elements concerning juvenile activity that the Legislature added to the report in 2003.that help make decisions on jurisdiction, structure and needs of the court system

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Scope of Information

Data can be used as a management and planning tool to objectively assess:

workload

trends in case activity

court performance

Criminal Section

Traffic Misdemeanors Non‐Parking

 Speeding

 Passing a school bus

 Driving w/out valid inspection sticker

 Driving with expired or no license Parking

 Parking in an intersection

 Parking within 15 ft of a fire hydrant

 Parking where sign prohibits parking County Ordinance

 Traffic/parking related ordinances enacted by the county

Non‐Traffic Misdemeanors Penal Code

 Disorderly Conduct

 Public Intoxication

 Theft of property <$50

 Failure to Appear Other State Law

 Alcoholic Beverage Code

 Education Code

 Health and Safety Code

 Human Resources Code

 Occupations Code

 Water Code

 Violation of Promise to Appear County Ordinance

 Building Codes

 Zoning Laws

 Animal Ordinances

Amendment to Reporting Instructions After Last Legislative Session

SB 1913 amended Art. 45.045, Code of Criminal Procedure, to require a hearing before issuance of capias pro fine

Those hearings should be included in Show Cause Hearings Held Report hearings whether or not the defendant appeared, but do not count any cases in which the defendant complied before the hearing

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Civil Section

Counted and reported when:

• A civil complaint or citation is filed (no matter how many parties are involved), or

• An original petition is filed (no matter how many parties are involved).

NOTE: At this time, the Civil Section of the report cannot adequately capture information on truancy cases.

Juvenile Section

Count of criminal cases filed that involve juveniles/minors

These cases are double counted on the report – once in criminal section and again in juvenile section

Also cases filed involving truant conduct

Currently no place to count these other than in juvenile

Additional Court Activity Section

Work performed by judge as magistrate Warrants and capiases pro fine issued

Compliance with legal financial obligations (fines, court costs), including community service and jail credit

Amounts collected

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State & Local Judiciary State & Local

Judiciary

General Public General Public

Texas LegislatureTexas Legislature

Media Media Attorneys

Attorneys Other State &

Local Governmental

Depts.

Other State &

Local Governmental

Depts.

Commissioners Courts, City

Councils Commissioners

Courts, City Councils

DATA

Parties to a case

Researchers, non‐profits (DWI, juvenile justice reform, domestic violence, civil rights) Legal aid organizations,

Access to Justice Commission

National Center for State Courts

Data Quality – Why Should I Care?

All Data are Made Available to the Public

http://card.txcourts.gov/

Live Reporting Database Annual Statistical Report

http://www.txcourts.gov/

statistics/annual‐statistical‐reports/

Review Your Reports EVERY MONTH for Basic, Critical Issues

 Missing reports

 Reports marked in RED

Have basic calculation errors that must be fixed

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Main Screen After Logging into the Reporting System

Other Easily Identifiable Issues

What is wrong with this picture?

 Report for previous month had not been submitted and this report had been submitted by uploading an XML file

 Reporting database couldn’t pull number of cases pending at the end of the previous month, and enters your beginning pending case numbers into the Docket Adjustment line

What Went Wrong?

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What is wrong with this picture?

Clerk entered what pending cases should be in the Docket Adjustment line rather than entering differencebetween numbers showing in Line 1 and what beginning pending cases should be:

Correct Adjustment of Cases Pending First of Month

Docket Adjustments

Large adjustments are OK if the information is accurate, but please enter an explanation in the Notes area

Explanation should be noted here

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What is wrong with this picture?

Information was entered in the wrong row

Occasionally review reports for completeness and accuracy

Manual errors

Typos, numbers entered in wrong line or column

Information not entered into case management system correctly or at all

Case management system issues

System not properly set up (mapping or programming issues)

Reports not programmed correctly

Updates from new release result in unintended consequences

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Other Things to Look Out For

Numbers that are too low

too high

or otherwise do not make any sense

Do any numbers

really stand out?

Ratio of filings

to dispositions?

Large # of All Other Dispositions Compliance

Dismissals missing or too high Uncontested Dispositions vs. Trials Criminal Section

Large # of dismissals with no explanation

Do any numbers really stand out?

Civil Section

Ratio of filings to dispositions?

Large # of All Other Dispositions

Only 15% of municipal courts report civil activity

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Are you reporting juvenile/minor cases?

Juvenile Section

Are your reporting magistrate warnings and requests for counsel, if relevant?

Additional Activity Section

If not, it will affect your county’s risk assessment score with the Texas Indigent Defense Commission

Additional Activity Section

Are community service and jail credit reported only once and only when the financial obligation in the case is settled in full?

Do any numbers really stand out?

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Appointments and Fees

Reporting Requirements

Senate Bill 1369, 84^thLegislative Session

Chapter 36, Government Code Applies to all courts in the state Effective September 1, 2016 First report was due October 2016

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Resources

www.txcourts.gov

http://www.txcourts.gov/reporting-to-oca/appointments-and-fees/justice-municipal-appellate/

Suggest:

Creating a bookmark Printing instructions View Webinars

Appointments and Fees Reports Received

http://www.txcourts.gov/statistics/appointments‐fees/

Website updated once a month

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Any court failing to provide clerk information required for the report is ineligible for grant moneyawarded by the state or a state agency for the next fiscal biennium

beginning September 1, 2018

Penalty

Chapter 36, Government Code

All appointments of and any fees paid to

 attorney ad litem

 guardian

 guardian ad litem

 mediator

 competency evaluator

in anytype of case

HOWEVER

most jurisdictions will have little to nothing to report in criminaland juvenile cases Report

Chapter 36, Government Code

These are NOTattorneys appointed for indigent defense in criminal or juvenile cases

“physician or psychologist who performs examinations to determine whether an individual is incapacitated or has an intellectual disability for purposes of appointing a guardian for the individual”

Attorney ad litem

Competency evaluator

Guardianship cases only!

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Reporting Requirements

Most municipal and justice courts will

Submit no activity reports all or a majority of the time

If have activity to report, will most likely be

appointment of guardian ad litem, attorney ad litem or mediator in a truancy case

Must Report in 3 Ways

Report due 15

^th

of each month to OCA

Must also post in courthouse by 15

^th

And on website “of the court” by 15

^th

TWO Reports Required per Court Each Month

1) All appointments

2) All fees approved/payments made For eachcourt: 2reports:

REGARDLESS of AMOUNT orSOURCE of fee (including “private pay cases”)

EVEN IF there was NO ACTIVITY or

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Additional Information, Answers to Questions

First read

Report instructions

Frequently Asked Questions

Judicial Information Section [email protected]

(512) 463‐1625

Still have

Report Submission

Submit onlineat card.txcourts.gov Enter manually into database OR Upload a file (xml)

Use same log in information you use for Monthly Court Activity Reports

To Enter a Report Manually

OR

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Reporting an Appointment or Fee

Reporting “No Activity”

Check the box

Manual Entry Results

An asterisk (*) to the right of a field indicates where a correction needs

Failure Success

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To Upload an XML File

Your vendor/IT staff need to create program to generate XML file from case management system

For information on XML instructions, send email to [email protected]

To Upload an XML File

1 2

XML Upload Results

Failure Success

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Warning about Submitting Corrected XML Reports

Newly uploaded XML files DO NOToverwrite or correct reports previously submitted

 Add new records manually

 Correct each record manually, or

 Delete all records previously submitted for the time period in question then upload a new XML file

To correct reports:

Contact Judicial Information to delete large number of records

Run Report for Most Current Data

Log in to Appointments and Fees database

Select Reports

Report Content

Approved Fee Details

Everything reported into database Court Appointments Summary

Number appointments by county & court level Court Fees

Summary

Total fees by county &

court level Missing Activity

Reports Reports received/missing

No Activity List of No Activity reports submitted for a court http://www.txcourts.gov/media/1435800/other‐courts‐online‐reporting‐appts‐fees.pdf

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Annual Data Verification

 Letter emailed/faxed to all courts week in early November

 Website set up which includes:

 Copies of reports for entire Fiscal Year

 Webinar on running reports

 How to make changes/corrections

 Common Report Issues

Annual Data Verification

Indicates that at least 1 section was reported per month

Does not ensure that all reports are complete or do not contain critical addition errors

Annual Data Verification

Deadline – reports and all corrections

Complete survey to notify OCA that reports are

correct and complete

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(512) 463‐1640 [email protected] (512) 463‐3789 [email protected] (512) 463‐4046 [email protected] (512) 936‐1358 [email protected]

Judicial Information Staff

[email protected] (512)463‐1625 OCA main line (512)463‐1865 Judicial Information Fax

Sandy Mabbett, Analyst Lisa Robles, Analyst Jamal Kinan, Research Specialist Angela Garcia, Manager