Will South Florida's circuit courts be consolidated?
MIAMI - Debate is underway throughout Florida about what the future of our courts will look like.
It began four months ago when Florida House Speaker Paul Renner sent a letter to Florida's Supreme Court Chief Justice. Renner believes consolidating circuit courts "might lead to greater efficiencies," and have "substantial cost savings."
The Chief Justice created a committee to investigate and make a recommendation.
Judge Jonathan Gerber chairs the Judicial Circuit Assessment Committee. Since June, it's worked to determine if there's a need to reduce the number of circuit courts in Florida.
CBS News Miami spoke with the chair in downtown Miami during his visit to meet with the Miami-Dade Bar General Membership members.
"We want to make sure whatever recommendation we make lives up to those ideals they expect from the Judicial system," shared Judge Gerber.
Judge Gerber chairs the 14-person committee, examining critical criteria ranging from Effectiveness, Access to Courts, and Public Trust when deciding whether to recommend consolidating the 20 current state circuit courts.
"Information we've received from a number of sources, I think in the long run, regardless of the outcome of this process, will be helpful to improving the judicial system," added Judge Gerber.
Since June, the committee has reviewed emails, letters, public testimony, and surveys.
"And looking at where the public has identified issues and where we've identified issues with all the other data we're looking at," said Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos J. Martinez.
Martinez also serves on the committee and shared an update with legal professionals at the luncheon in downtown Miami.
Findings revealed last month from the committee report uncovered "... short-term negative fiscal impact for specific functional categories, such as technology, for the trial courts and clerks."
"If you're purely looking at consolidating, I think under any plan just from a geographical standpoint, you've immediately added in the distance and traveled to the courthouse, which I think would be concerning," said Jeff Harvey, CEO of Community Legal Services. "If you get selected for a jury, you gotta go to the courthouse."
Harvey is based out of Orlando and provides insight into other consolidation concerns.
"How easy is it to hear your case heard," Harvey added. "How many resources are there at the clerk's office for people to be able to use? 40% of Floridians cannot afford a lawyer. And so that's, that is a real concern."
He believes the chief criteria to consider should be effectiveness.
Over 97% of the more than 4,000 court, government, and legal professionals surveyed throughout Florida don't know or believe reducing circuit courts would improve effectiveness.
Legal professionals at the luncheon in Miami tell us a consolidation plan would most likely include combining Miami-Dade and Monroe County.
The Monroe County Bar Association opposes merging with Miami-Dade, saying their voting numbers represent 3% of Dade's: "...citizens would no longer have a meaningful say in the election of our State Attorney, Public Defender, and Circuit Court Judges."
There's one more scheduled public hearing with the committee next Friday. Judge Gerber said the committee will make its recommendation by December 1st on whether or not to consolidate circuit courts.
