Senate passes bill governing municipal court administration and
procedure
By Joe Forward, Legal
Writer, State Bar of Wisconsin
April 21, 2010 – The Wisconsin State Senate yesterday gave
final passage by voice vote to legislation that impacts rules governing
municipal court administration, judges, and procedure. Introduced by
Sens. Lena
Taylor, Fred
Risser, Jon
Erpenbach and Robert
Wirch last November, Senate Bill
383 now awaits consideration by Gov. Jim Doyle.
Under the new law, municipal courts would be guided by revised rules
governing administration, including rules that govern the certification
process for creation of a municipal court, budgeting, the terms of
municipal court judges, requirements for court personnel, and actual
physical location of the municipal court.
For instance, the the bill requires a municipal court to be "located
in an area seperate from the police department by design or signage" and
provides that a municipal court budget be separate from the budget of
other municipal departments. In addition, it requires the municipality
to provide the judge with an office, and removes the restriction that a
judge must not maintain an office with a law partner.
Other notable changes and clarifications address service of process
by mail, the contents of citations and amendments thereto, limits on
detainment and warrant issuance, clarifications on case transfers and
disqualifications, use of telephonic or audiovisual testimony at trial,
rules on default judgments, use of social workers to determine mental
incapacity, mandates on community service, and rules governing appeals,
among others.
