mandatory e-filing in texas - citoc · mandatory e-filing in texas . casey kennedy ... put a rfp...
TRANSCRIPT
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Mandatory e-Filing in Texas
Casey Kennedy – Director, Information Service
Texas Office of Court Administration
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
About Casey
• Computer Science graduate from UT Austin (hook ‘em)
• “Long Time” IT
• “Short Time” Court
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Tx. Tourism Code – 36.225(A)(2)
“When giving presentations to people outside of the State of Texas, one must include at least one slide devoted to describing how Texas works.”
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
State Demographics
25 million people 254 counties More than ½ of the population lives within 10 counties – Texas cities you can name, plus surrounding counties Legislature meets for 6 months in odd numbered years. Harris Co.
4,000,000+
Loving Co. 67
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Quick Civics Lesson (It has relevance)
Texas was originally extreme northern Mexico
Bunches of Americans moved from Tennessee/Missouri/etc to populate the area.
1836 – Texans declared independence from Mexico and formed the Republic of Texas (it’s own country)
Ran as it’s own country until becoming part of USA in 1845
Secession talk/handing letters to the president…
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Texas Judiciary
Supreme Court
Court of Criminal Appeals
Courts of Appeals
District Courts
County Courts
Justice Courts
Type of Court # of Elected Officials Who’s IT shop?
9
9
80
458
510
817
1,288 Municipal Courts
OCA
OCA
OCA
County
County
County
City
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Texas e-Filing Model
Filers EFSPs EFM Court Systems
Commercial Companies
State Provided County
Provided
$3-$12.50 $5.50 $0-$5
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
eFiling circa 2010
• Ran by an Executive Branch Vendor
• Cost Recovery (Toll-Road) Model
• Bought at the Fire Sale (Original developer went bankrupt)
• Permissive in 52 counties, including the most populous ones
• About 10% adoption (2,500 filings per weekday, statewide)
• Old and broken (classic asp, didn’t want to expand because of $$$)
• Old version of OASIS to transmit
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Then this happened…Summer 2011
Put $15M in the sack and we’ll re-write the system. Oh, and the per transaction cost will be going from $5.50/filing to $9.50/filing.
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
OCA to the rescue…
Put a RFP for statewide electronic filing system to replace the existing eFiling system.
Keep the existing EFSP model
Wanted a state provided EFSP (no frills)
Wanted turn-key solution
Needed to transition counties from one EFM to another
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Continuing down the trail…
• RFP out in Feb 2012
• Back late spring 2012
• Vendor selected summer 2012
• Notified Texas.gov that we’d be leaving
• Contract signed 11/9/12
• Had EFSP model • Had free EFSP • Reduced toll from $9.50/filing to $6.50/transaction
(which can have multiple filings) • Toll was on a sliding scale based on transaction volume
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Texas e-Filing Model
Filers EFSPs EFM Court Systems
Commercial Companies
State Provided County
Provided
$0-$12.50 $6.50 $0-$5
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Muwahaha
OCA knew that the Supreme Court knew the value of eFiling and its transformative properties.
OCA knew that the Supreme Court knew the value of eFiling and its transformative properties.
Contract provision that said if the Supreme Court mandated eFiling, the toll would auto-reduce to low price.
In December 2012, Supreme Court mandates that all civil cases in county/district courts and all cases in appellate courts must be e-Filed.
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Texas e-Filing Model
Filers EFSPs EFM Court Systems
Commercial Companies
State Provided County
Provided
$0-$12.50 $3.50 $0-$5
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
The Legislature lends a hand…
• Passes bill to increase the filing fee • No regard of mode, fee same for
paper vs. electronic • Money from fee appropriated to
OCA to pay for e-Filing • OCA amended the contract to move
from a toll-road to a freeway
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Texas e-Filing Model
Filers EFSPs EFM Court Systems
Commercial Companies
State Provided County
Provided
$0-$12.50 $0 $0-$2
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Transition Time
• System turned on and configured Spring 2013
• New system brought up in the cloud and in “Production” on 6/6/2013 (Yes, that’s D-Day)
• Standards adopted on the proper formatting of an electronic document.
• First county transitioned from the old EFM to the new in July 2013
• Planned to transition the top 10 most populous by 11/1 (a month ahead of the mandate) and the other 42 by March 2014.
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Then this happened…Summer 2012
Ok. Either put a ton of money in the sack and we’ll keep the schedule. If you don’t we’re pulling the plug on e-Filing on November 30th no matter what.
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
YEE HAW!
• No – no more money – cut the schedule
• Collaborate with an EFSP to snag the current EFM configs.
• Review and mitigate the risk of transitioning all 52 counties quickly
• Relationship between new EFM vendor, EFSPs, OCA and clerks solidified through extreme dislike of the old vendor.
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Fall 2013 • Top 10 most populous counties communicated impending date.
• EFSP Fairs
• Local Bar Presentations
• Mailers/Flyers/Radio/TV
• Two high courts jointly adopt amendments to the rules for eFiling support. (I have never seen this before!)
• All 52 counties successfully transitioned by 11/15/2013 • Yes – there were hiccups, but quickly resolved
• Prepped Supreme Court for mandate frenzy • If 1% of the filers called to complain, the court would receive about 250
calls – YIKES!
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Virtually Crickets….
• Supreme Court received 2 calls, 1 email
• Document volume jumps from 2,500/day to 10,000/day
• Registered users up to about 11,000
• Very quiet, very scary, no issues…
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Filers Fight Back…
Insanity = Performing the same actions and receiving different results with every try.
Travis County (Austin) – 23 e-Filing codes
Harris County (Houston) – 525 e-Filing codes
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Clerks Unite
• Developed Standards • eFiling Case Categories, Case Types, Filing Types
• Return for correction reasons
• Standard Additional Services
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Status Today
Dallam
Hartley
Oldham
Deaf Smith Collings- worth
Har
dem
an
Foard Wilb
arge
r
Wic
hit
a
Gaines
Cla
y
Mo
nta
gue
Co
oke
Gra
yso
n
Fan
nin
Lam
ar
Red
Riv
er
Bowie
Cass
Marion
Harrison
Mo
rris
Titu
s
Fran
klin
Delta
Hu
nt
Wood
Camp
Gregg
Panola
Ru
sk
Ellis Smith
Navarro Hill
Hood
Somer- vell
Shelby
Sabine
Newton
Orange
Jefferson
Chambers
Galveston
Brazoria
Matagorda
Calhoun
Aransas
Nueces
Kleberg
San Patricio
Ken
edy
Willacy
Cameron
Hidalgo
Starr Za
pat
a
Jim
Ho
gg
Bro
oks
Du
val Webb
La S
alle
McM
ulle
n
Bee Dimmit
Frio Zavala
Mav
eric
k
Jim
Wel
ls
Live
Oak
Goliad Vic
tori
a
Wharton Bexar
Val Verde
Real
Terrell
Sutton Kimble
Bandera
Kerr Kendall
Comal
Guadalupe
Hays
Brewster
Presidio
Pecos Jeff Davis
Reeves Cu
lber
son
Hu
dsp
eth
El P
aso
Cro
cket
t Schleicher
Andrews
Ward
Loving
Earth
San Saba
Lampasas
Mills
Hamilton
Bla
nco
Williamson
Travis
Milam
Lee
Bastrop
Caldwell
Lavaca
Colorado
Austin
Washington
Burleson
Fayette
Waller
Brazos Gri
mes
Madison Robertson
Leon
Polk Tyler Jasper
San
Au
gust
ine
San Jacinto
Walker
Montgomery
Lib
erty
Hardin
Harris Fort Bend
Coryell McLennan
Bell
Falls
Freestone
Limestone
• Mandatory in 22 counties + High and appellate courts
• Permissive in 80 counties (88% of pop) • Vendor is about 1.5 deadlines ahead
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Lessons Learned
• Keep pushing for free
• The EFM is like highlander (There can only be one)
• Standardize, review, then standardize again
• Communicate, and then communicate some more
• Prepare for, but do not fear the unknown
• Realize and expect complaints from all angles. They will subside.
OFFICE of COURT ADMINISTRATION
Questions/Contact
Casey Kennedy [email protected]
http://www.txcourts.gov/jcit
This has the contract + amendments and other e-Filing goodness