Department: District Courts
Department Head/Elected Official: Richard Woods
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Grant
Project ID (if applicable): ARPA_AJS
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request by the District Courts for approval to carryforward into FY 2025, $112,000 in unspent FY 2024 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Local Fiscal Recovery Funds needed to hire a coordinator to continue progress on backlog initiatives, effective October 1, 2024.
end
Background and Discussion:
In January 2022, the Harris County District Criminal Courts established the two-year Associate Judge (AJ) program and Emergency Relief Trial Dockets (ERTD), to address the case backlog caused by displacement from the courthouse following Hurricane Harvey and the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 27, 2024, Commissioners Court approved $1,380,163 in carryforward funding for 10 more positions through FY25. However, an additional coordinator is needed to staff the Competency Restoration (CR) docket. On September 5, 2024 the ARPA Steering Committee approved this request.
The CR docket has roughly 1300 cases, but this does NOT include a couple of hundred individuals on a post-conviction probation - “CTI” docket who regularly require attention and intervention from the court. The amount of work required in a single CR docket case can be quadruple the work required of a regular criminal case. The docket involves anyone who has been found to be incompetent, as well as persons who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity, all of which trigger a series of statutory requirements, deadlines, and paperwork, and involve numerous agencies, care providers, and hospitals who submit legal documents through the court via paper because there is no electronic filing workaround to this requirement.
Due to the statutory timelines applicable to the persons on this docket, the number of stakeholders and agencies involved, the lack of a home court, antiquated paper systems (some of which are statutorily mandated) that form the basis of tracking information once someone is placed on a hospital state waitlist or put in a state hospital, and the amount of communication and scheduling involved, we are in desperate need of a second coordinator to move these cases.
Expected Impact:
This funding will allow for the hire of an additional coordinator who will assist with the competency restoration (CR) docket. The new coordinator position will enable more efficient and effective tracking and processing of defendant information to avoid unnecessary case delays.
Alternative Options:
N/A
Alignment with Goal(s):
X Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
_ Flooding
_ Environment
_ Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
|
10/12/2021 |
18 |
Request for discussion and possible action on the criminal case backlog including 1) update on the status of initiatives to reduce the backlog; 2) request to provide $657,465 in ARPA funding for 31 temporary positions to process evidence at the DA as well as 3 programmer positions effective October 23, 2021, while they finalize the technology improvements needed to create a permanent solution; 3) request to approve $1,637,519 in ARPA funding and positions for Associate Judges for the District Criminal Courts effective January 7, 2022. |
|
02/22/2022 |
22 |
Approval to fund court backlog initiatives through SFY 22 and relocation of Jury Operations to the Family Law Center |
|
05/10/2022 |
175 |
Approval of District Courts Case Management Coordinator positions |
|
09/13/2022 |
13 |
Approval of FY2023 Court Backlog funding |
|
02/21/2023 |
223 |
Approval to supplement FY2023 Court Backlog funding for District Courts |
|
06/06/2023 |
363 |
Approval of FY2024 Court Backlog funding |
|
08/06/2024 |
324 |
Approval of $2,131,484 in Court Backlog funding |
|
08/27/2024 |
433 |
Approval of $1,380,163 in carryforward funding for 10 more positions through FY25. |
Location:
Address (if applicable): 1201 Franklin, 7th Floor, Houston, TX 77002
Precinct(s): Countywide
|
Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
|
Service Name |
|
|
|
|
Current Fiscal Year Cost |
Annual Fiscal Cost |
|
|
Labor |
Non-Labor |
Total |
Recurring Expenses |
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
Existing Budget |
|
|
FY24 portion |
FY25 portion |
|
Grant |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Current Budget |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Additional Budget Request (Requires Fiscal Review Request Form) |
|
|
2651 - American Rescue Plan 2021 |
$112,000 |
$ |
$ |
$112,000 |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Choose an item. |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
|
Total Additional Budget Request |
$112,000 |
$ |
$ |
$112,000 |
|
Total Funding Request |
$112,000 |
$ |
$ |
$112,000 |
|
Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
|
|
Current Position Count for Service |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
|
Additional Positions Request |
1 |
- |
1 |
1 |
|
Total Personnel |
2 |
- |
2 |
2 |
Anticipated Court Date: September 19, 2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date): October 1, 2024
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Richard Woods, Court Administrator, District Courts
Attachments (if applicable):