TJCTC Updates 1.6.2025

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Happy New Year!

Welcome back to the office (hopefully you all had at least a little well-needed time off this holiday season)!

We wanted to kick this year off right with some resources and updates. 

Countdown to the New Year: 10 Ways to Ring in Your Mental Health

As we start a new year, judges, court staff, and law enforcement are often faced with hard cases and burnout, making some of those resolutions to take care of your health even harder!

Take a look at this article from Mental Health First Aid about how to look after your mental health and that of your friends, family, and co-workers this season.

Clerk Testing Goes Live Tomorrow!

It’s time! Exam registration opens tomorrow at 8 am.

To register for the exam just head to our exam website and click on “1. Register to take the exam online” then click the link for the appropriate exam.

This will take you to log into your TJCTC account and then you register like you would for one of our conferences.

To take the Master exam you must already be level one certified (you only need to have passed one of the level one exams).

Registration closes on January 16. The exams will open on January 17th and close on February 14th. For questions contact Darby Swoboda at d_s520@txstate.edu

Continued Guidance on Magistration in Open Court

TJCTC has continued to receive questions on the ruling in Texas Tribune v. Caldwell County case from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

There have been concerns about not having enough time to implement procedures to make magistration hearings open. Unfortunately, this is just the nature of how court rulings can impact local procedures. Going forward, magistration proceedings must be open.  

Please continue to work with your local partners – county/district attorneys, sheriff, and jail staff to ensure that your magistration proceedings are open. You can read more about the case in an earlier post on The Docket.  

Read more from other groups here: Texas Commission on Jail Standards and Texas District and County Attorney’s Association.

NCSC Self-Represented Litigants:

The National Center for State Courts (NCSC) has compiled a page of resources for courts to use when assisting self-represented litigants (SRLs), including some very helpful videos that you can share on your website or in the courtroom!

Access the Resources Page: https://www.ncsc.org/consulting-and-research/areas-of-expertise/access-to-justice/self-represented-litigants

Access the Videos: https://www.ncsc.org/consulting-and-research/areas-of-expertise/access-to-justice/a2j-videos

Substance Use Disorder Treatment Month

In January, the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) will be kicking off the first national Substance Use Disorder Treatment Month – a time to raise awareness of the benefits and availability of evidence-based treatments for people with a substance use disorder.

So, check out our their Treatment Month Toolkit, and keep your eyes on all of SAMHSA’s social media platforms. There you’ll find our tips, resources and even webinars to help people learn more about what substance use disorder is and how it can be effectively treated.

Poverty Awareness Month

Every January is National Poverty Awareness Month. 

This is a great time to think about access to justice issues in your courts and communities, because they are often related to poverty.

Some resources to review are:

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TJCTC Updates 4.01.2024

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Hello Judges, Constables, and Court Staff,

We have several important updates for you, including some recent caselaw updates. Please make sure you read the full email.

SB 4 Update

There have been a few more rulings on SB 4, but the current state of the law is still that S.B. 4 is not in effect. We will keep you updated if anything changes.

In the meantime, TJCTC resources have been updated to reflect the impact of SB 4 on justice courts in the event that it goes into effect.

The Magistration Deskbook has been updated. See page 60-61 for updates related to SB 4.

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Opinion Related to Social Media and Liability for Public Officials

You may need to talk to your county attorney about what steps you need to take to ensure that your private social media accounts don’t open you up to potential liability.

In Lindke v. Freedthe U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a public servant who:

  1. had actual authority to speak on behalf of the State on a particular matter, and
  2. purported to exercise that authority

could open themselves to potential liability if they block people from seeing their posts from their private accounts on social media.

The example they give is a mayor officially announcing on his personal Facebook page that he is using his authority under a local ordinance to suspend enforcement of certain parking rules.  If that were the case, the mayor would be unable to block citizens from access to his personal Facebook page.

The Court gives an example that might be worth following:

Had official’s account carried a label (example: “this is the personal page of [insert official’s name]”) or a disclaimer (example: “the views expressed are strictly my own”), the official would be entitled to a heavy (though not irrebuttable) presumption that all of the posts on their page were personal and not in their official capacity.

It’s probably time to edit your personal pages to make sure that this language is there. 

The Court also states “an official who uses his staff to make a post will be hard pressed to deny that he was conducting government business.”

It is a best practice to keep your personal social media accounts and official social media accounts separate and not ask any employees to post or maintain your personal accounts.

The Court is very clear that a public official can have private speech and can limit who receives that private speech.   There are going to be “hard-to-classify cases,” so you will need to talk to your county attorney about any advice or policies they may put into practice in your county.

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) Rules that Refusal of Consent to Search NOT an Indication of Criminal Activity

Lall v. State is a straightforward opinion from the CCA that holds that a defendant’s lawful refusal to consent to a search cannot be considered in making a determination of probable cause or reasonable suspicion. This decision is consistent with how courts have treated a defendant’s assertion of other constitutional rights, like when a person invokes their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent as not being admissible as evidence of guilt.

State Bar Justice Court Section Webinar

The State of Debt Collection in Justice Courts, 1 hr

According to a 2018 Federal Reserve report, there were 59.5 Billion debit or credit card swipes a year in the United States. That boils down to 165 million swipes/day; approximately 15% of which occur in Texas (25 million/day; 1.8 million/hour; 30,000/minute; 500/sec). That’s a lot of plastic. Since then, things have only increased. This course will look at trends in the consumer debt arena both in terms of activity and evolving debt types and will review how these claims ultimately arrive and are presented to the courts. Topics will include digital documentation and an orientation to “fin-tech” debt.

Additionally, with increased activity comes increased scrutiny. This course will explore both the operational focus of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the current regulatory environment, including the Fair Debt Practices Act and the more recently enacted Reg. F. Included will be a discussion of the Model Validation Notice, the limitations on contact activity and methods of communication, as well as the opportunities presented by the utilization of digital platforms.

Speaker: Michael Scott

April 12, 2024 at 12:00 PM CDT

Zoom Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEkfuGrrTIpEtNHsq828Gj7GumB9calOPk0%20#/registration

NCSC Webinars and Programs

Tiny Chats

Do you watch the NCSC Tiny Chats? They are short videos on topics related to court procedures and increasing fairness and confidence in the courts. The most recent Tiny Chat is about chat bots and how they can be helpful to court websites. Also, NCSC is partnering with Law Droid to build a lucky court a chat bot for free.

Highlights in Fines and Fees Reform

Later this week, watch our own Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice, Nathan Hecht, as he moderates a discussion about how several states are updating how they handle fines and fees.

Registration Link: https://ncsc-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YV04G9GPRdu8EAOOo9hkMg?utm_campaign=486477_Whats%20on%20April%201%202024&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotdigital&dm_i=7L57,AFD9,4VW08I,1IB0V,1#/registration

April is Retiring

Our wonderful Office Coordinator April Williams is retiring at the end of April. If you have any well-wishes you would like to pass along, please email Jessica at jessforeman@txstate.edu

We hope the month of April is kicking off to a great start in your courts and offices! 

Thea & the TJCTC Team

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