Opinion ID: 1788490
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: updated case weights

Text: The Legislature has enacted a number of laws affecting the work of the courts since the case weights were adopted in 2000. In addition, significant supplemental resources were allocated when the state court system became fiscally unified with the July 1, 2004, implementation of the amendment to article V, section 14 of the Florida Constitution. [8] Together, these two factors warrant re-evaluation of the original case weights. A judicial resource workgroup comprising judges and trial court administrators has begun the process of updating these case weights. This process will take approximately twelve to eighteen months to complete. The National Center for State Courts' final report on Florida's weighted caseload system, issued in January 2000, recommended that the weights be evaluated every five years to preserve the integrity of the system. [9] We are now six years removed from the original study; thus, the case weights should be updated. We will keep the Legislature fully apprised of our efforts.