TAMPA, Fla. — In June, Paul Renner, the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives, wrote a letter to the Florida Supreme Court asking if they thought Florida's Circuit Court system could use a bit of an overhaul.
Letter to Chief Justice Re Judicial Circuits by ABC Action News on Scribd
More specifically, Representative Renner asked if combining some courts would make the whole system run smoother.
To help answer that question, the state supreme court created the Judicial Circuit Assessment Committee. The group has been meeting since July.
Their task is this, to look at the 20 circuit court systems across our state and figure out if reducing them into fewer, larger circuit court systems would make them more effective, efficient, and professional, easier to access, and improve public trust.
The group has until Dec. 1, 2023, to make a recommendation to the state supreme court based on data and feedback from the public.
To help get a better understanding of what this means, we spoke with the Polk County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, Stacy Butterfield, who is on that committee.
She told ABC Action News it's a decision that is not being made lightly.
"The recommendation in its final form will only recommend changes if it's clear that the consolidation or any recommendation would improve the justice system," said Butterfield.
But it's a decision the Chief Judge for the 13th Judicial Circuit Court, which serves Hillsborough County, is hoping they'll be excluded from.
"We would prefer to stay one circuit, one county," said Judge Sabella, "We really are cautious. We don't want that to be interrupted by expanding and turning us into a mega-circuit where we have multiple boards of county commissioners to go to for budget requests, multiple sheriffs to deal with regarding law enforcement issues."
As the countdown to that Dec. 1 deadline inches closer, both Butterfield and Judge Sabella agreed that the most important thing in this process is to make sure the public is heard and included.
"I always like to tell people, 'It's not always a bad thing when you're coming to the courthouse. There may be an adoption [which is] a happy event! You don't know when you're going to need the court system or [if] the court system needs you.' So please, let us hear from you."
If you have questions or comments about this process, the committee is holding a public hearing to talk about it on Friday, Oct. 13, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It will be held at the George Edgecomb Courthouse in downtown Tampa.
If you'd like to speak at that public hearing, click here to register.
If you'd like to attend the public hearing virtually, click here to register.
