By Gary Blankenship
Senior Editor

The effort to develop an electronic filing system for Florida’s courts this year may have hit a major snag with a dispute between elected court clerks and the court system over who will control the Internet “portal” or access point to the system.

Last month, a day after the state courts sent out a request for information (RFI) to prospective vendors for a portal, a clerks’ spokesperson told a key state Senate committee that clerks are developing their own portal and the court efforts are unneeded.

That led Sen. Victor Crist, chair of the Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee, to advise the courts to halt their work. He also said if the clerks and the courts cannot agree, the Legislature will sort out who is responsible for the portal.

But that in turn could leave the issue unresolved until the spring, setting back efforts to have the e-filing system up and running this fiscal year — as mandated by the Legislature last spring.

The issue came up at an October 7 meeting at Crist’s committee. Sarasota County Clerk of Court Karen Rushing, representing the Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers, was reporting on financial difficulties clerks are experiencing following budget cuts ordered by the Legislature earlier this year.

She mentioned electronic filing for the court system could be a source of future savings for the clerk, and then added that she was confused by courts sending out their RFI because the FACC thought the clerks should be in charge of the portal.

In response to questions from Crist, Rushing said the clerks had “equalized” data so it would be useable on a uniform system and that one portal would be accessible to anyone anywhere in the state — key requirements for the e-filing system.

“There have been some concerns between the clerks and the court system on who is responsible for the collection of data,” Crist said. “Well, I’m going to step out on a limb, but as chairman of the committee I’m going to ask that the court second think that move and reconsider sending out an RFI because I don’t believe it was the Legislature’s intent to transfer out those responsibilities.”

If the clerks and courts can’t work out an agreement, “We’re going to look at all the concerns,” Crist said. “We’re going to try to identify all of the problems, and we’re going to try to cultivate fair and equitable solutions that are in the best interests of the taxpayers and the citizens of Florida. I think that there is some merit to some of the concerns on both sides of this issue.”

After the meeting, disagreement continued about the two portal efforts. Clerks said they had informed the courts about their efforts, while court officials said they had little information.

Rushing said the portal is an outgrowth of the clerks’ project, begun in 2007 with the support of the Legislature, to provide an online method for recording documents such as mortgages and deeds.

“We began building the portal so it had the capacity to accept not only e-recorded documents but also documents for the court,” she said. “There had been long-standing discussions about having a standardized entry point into the court system.”

So the clerks decided to make their recording portal work for court filings. The “e-recording” portal is set to begin operation in December, Rushing said. As for the court filing segment, “I think they could roll that out at the same time. We have that March date that’s in the legislation [passed earlier this year]. We think we will have that capacity earlier than March.”

The portal meets the courts’ requirements, she said, of being a unified system that will work statewide and give access to any jurisdiction in the state from anywhere in the state, give lawyers and the public access to the documents, and — other than existing filing fees — be free to use.

“At the moment, the concept is that the clerks collectively will run it through their staff, the FACC, in Tallahassee. Everything is governed by the clerks,” Rushing said. “The idea is you do it at the state level so you can maximize your efficiencies and have a unified approach.”

But 11th Circuit Judge Judith Kreeger, chair of the Florida Courts Technology Commission, said it would be impossible to implement an e-filing and portal system that soon because the commission hasn’t finished writing all of the necessary standards, also called data elements. The problem, Kreeger said, is the clerks have one set of needs to be met for e-filing to be successful, and the courts have another. She likened it to the paper cover sheet that is filed with lawsuits now. Much of that data is not necessary for the clerks to keep the records, but is necessary for the courts to effectively manage their dockets.

“The courts’ needs are not just what the clerks need, because the court is responsible for allocating its resources in the branch; the court is responsible for accounting to the people for the disposition of its work,” she said. “If we don’t get all the information we need coming in, we can’t fulfill our responsibilities as the judicial branch of government.”

Kreeger noted that probate will be the first division to convert to e-filing because it is the smallest and only has four basic types of cases. Yet it took a special committee six days, spread over three months, to write most of the data elements. Kreeger said that committee hoped to wrap up the final details by the end of October, after this News went to press.

At its Nov. 17-18 meeting, she said, the FCTC hopes to set out a schedule for writing the data elements and implementing e-filing for criminal, juvenile, civil, family, and other court divisions. Kreeger said it has also been clear that the FCTC’s E-Filing Committee would set out the basic standards for the portal, but the technical details would be left to the FCTC.

Another problem, she said, is the courts are required to go through a procurement procedure and just can’t accept the clerks’ portal.

“Legally, we have to go through this process. Because the portal is a portal of the court and does this kind of a project, the court just can’t select somebody to do it,” Kreeger said. “It’s our duty and our responsibility to do it according to the procurement process we have to follow.”

She added that the FACC is welcome to bid on the portal, which is why it was sent an RFI.

Kreeger said the FCTC is aware of Sen. Crist’s concerns, but for the moment is continuing its work, and expects the difficulties can be worked out.

She, as well as State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner, said several vendors, including the FACC, have expressed an interest in the RFI sent out by the courts.

But the clerks also aren’t waiting. In an Oct. 2 press release, Vista Solutions Groups of Austin, Texas, the vendor hired by the FACC to develop its portal, announced that the company and the FACC held a series of workshops around the state for clerks on the portal for both recording and e-filing.

The press release says the portal complies both with legislation passed earlier this year on e-filing and the administrative order from the Supreme Court on filing standards. And while Judge Kreeger said portal standards are still being written, the press release quotes Melvin Cox, IT director for the FACC, as saying the portal “integrates all of the key components as outlined by the Florida Courts Technology Commission and the Electronic Filing Committee.”