PORTER v. STATE (1997)

Appellant is under a sentence of death from the Circuit Court in Charlotte County and is presently in this Court on appeal from denial of a rule 3.850 motion.   Incident to that appeal, appellant has filed a “Motion to Direct Payment of Court Reporter's Fees.” We have jurisdiction.  Art. V, § 3(b)(1), Fla. Const.

Appellant has been invoiced by the court reporter responsible for transcribing the various court hearings that occurred in the 3.850 proceedings which are the subject of this appeal.   These transcripts are to be included in the record on appeal.   Appellant is represented by the Capital Collateral Representative (CCR) pursuant to sections 27.7001-27.708, Florida Statutes (1995 & Supp.1996).

The issue presented by this motion is whether the costs for the court reporter's transcription should be paid by the County or should be paid out of the budget of CCR. We have been advised by CCR and the office of the Attorney General that in postconviction capital cases, these costs historically have been paid by the counties.

However, in Hoffman v. Haddock, 695 So.2d 682 (Fla.1997), we held that we could not compel the City of Jacksonville and Duval County to pay costs incident to postconviction capital proceedings because the legislature has determined that CCR is to bear this responsibility:

In this type of case, however, chapter 27 expressly directs that CCR is to provide for the collateral representation of any person convicted and sentenced to death in this state and is to be responsible for the payment of all necessary costs and expenses.

Id. at 684.   We here clarify that our decision includes court reporter fees for transcription of the proceedings to be included in the record on appeal.

We rule on this motion by this opinion to express our conclusion that payment of all postconviction costs out of CCR's budget is not only statutorily required but is necessary to carry out the legislative intent expressed in section 27.7001, Florida Statutes (Supp.1996).¹  Moreover, we believe it will further the goal of accounting for and controlling costs in postconviction proceedings and further the efficient processing of postconviction capital cases.

Because this is a change from how these costs have been paid in the past, we urge CCR and the Commission on Administration of Justice in Capital Cases to immediately assess the impact of these costs on CCR's budgets in each of the CCR offices and at an early time do what is necessary to make the legislature aware of the need to appropriate the funds to cover these costs.

The motion is denied.

It is so ordered.

NO MOTION FOR REHEARING WILL BE ENTERTAINED BY THE COURT.

I concur.

In doing so, I want to emphasize that court reporter costs for Florida courts are a substantial expense, borne largely by the individual counties and are a significant part of what is now termed “Article V costs.”   However, how the individual counties pay for this expense varies greatly from county to county throughout the state.

In some judicial circuits, there has been an effective cooperative effort by the judiciary and local county officials, who have moved aggressively to change the structure and method of providing court reporter services.   They have taken total control and management of these costs, which has resulted in the provision of more efficient court reporter services at less cost to the taxpayers.   In other circuits, court reporters remain largely independent, which in my view has, in most instances, resulted in more cost to the taxpayers.

In this case, the Office of the Capital Collateral Representative (CCR) has received invoices from an independent contractor providing court reporter services to Charlotte County for the amounts of $42.75, $41.25, and $826.56.   In the companion case of Patton v. State, No. 89,669, 699 So.2d ---- (Fla.1997), CCR has received an invoice for services in Dade County from an independent court reporter contractor for $1,493.40.

Comparatively, if these postconviction relief proceedings had been conducted in Alachua County, where most court reporter services are provided by full-time county employees who use state-of-the-art computer-aided transcription, no per page or attendance costs would have been incurred.

In my view, the Alachua plan, a copy of which is attached to this concurring opinion, is a more efficient, cost-effective method for managing court reporter costs than the methods being used in most other counties.   Because the court has total control of how depositions, trials, and evidentiary hearings are reported and determines when hard-copy transcriptions are necessary, costs for court reporting services have been greatly reduced in that circuit.

I strongly believe that all judicial circuits should implement a plan similar to that being used in Alachua County.   Equally as important, the state must provide substantial funds to aid and assist the counties in the payment of these article V costs.   Presently, Dade County spends approximately $5.4 million per year on court reporter costs.

Both court reporter costs and conflict counsel costs are important issues that should be addressed in the next legislative session.

ATTACHMENT

THE MAKING OF A COURT REPORTING PROGRAMSept. 2, 1997.INTRODUCTION

The Eighth Judicial Circuit of Florida decided in 1994, in light of mandates by the Legislature, to create a Court Reporting Department within the scope of the Court Administrator's Office.

After the decision was made, there began a series of meetings, reports, recommendations and choices to be made.

It was, in the end, decided that the Department would retain its already existing electronic division, wherein non-capital felony depositions were electronically recorded and transcripts prepared by court-employed Celectronic reporters.   That Division was expanded to include two satellite offices so that electronic reporting was available to the entire Circuit, and an additional employee was brought into the home office for the purpose of conducting electronically recorded depositions and for transcribing.

The Judicial Court Reporting division was initially made up a Sr. Managing Court Reporter who split her time between realtime reporting and the administrative responsibilities of managing the office, four full-time court reporters and two part-time (twenty hours per week) court reporters.   In addition, a Program Manager was installed to oversee and supervise the electronic division and coordinate and assist the Judicial Reporting division.

Through attrition, the make-up of the Judicial Reporting division has changed to include the Program Manager, the Sr. Managing Court Reporter (who continues to split her reporting and administrative responsibilities) and five other full-time court reporters.

The following page reveals a graph of the makeup of the Department currently in place.

The Department is governed by Administrative Order Number 1.1110(E).   If any policy or procedural statement found herein is at odds with that Administrative Order, the Administrative Order prevails and changes in policy and procedure should be made within the Court Reporting Program.

COSTS AND EQUIPMENT:

The County purchased all the reporting equipment, computers, desks, chairs and supplies required for the employees and leased the additional space needed to house the office.   All equipment and furniture remains the property of the County.   Salaries were set, with financial incentives for acquiring realtime proficiency levels.   Appendix A sets forth the minimum base salaries and incentives for realtime levels 1, 2 and 3.   Mileage for travel within the Circuit is paid at the rate of $.29 per mile for prescribed distances between cities.   Meals are reimbursed at preset amounts if travel time are within appropriate ranges.   Appendix B sets forth the policies and procedures for travel reimbursement and samples of travel reimbursement claim forms to be used.

CALENDARING:

The Judicial Court Reporters cover a six-county Circuit (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy and Union Counties), reporting at all felony criminal case proceedings, capital-case depositions when the defendant has a public defender or court-appointed counsel, scheduled Baker/Marchman Act proceedings, Termination of Parental Rights pre-trials and adjudicatory hearings, non-capital depositions when it is determined to be more efficient and cost-effective than electronic recording, and some juvenile proceedings.

An annual Master Calendar is generated by Court Administration.   The selected proceedings to be covered by Judicial Court Reporters is taken from that Master Calendar and a scheduling calendar is made for the department by the Program Manager.   Judges' weekly calendars are generated by Judicial Assistants and provided to the Program Manager to add to, delete from, and change the scheduling calendar.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Section 27.7001 provides as follows:Legislative Intent.-It is the intent of the Legislature to create part IV of this chapter, consisting of ss. 27.7001-27.708, inclusive, to provide for the collateral representation of any person convicted and sentenced to death in this state, so that collateral legal proceedings to challenge any Florida capital conviction and sentence may be commenced in a timely manner and so as to assure the people of this state that the judgments of its courts may be regarded with the finality to which they are entitled in the interests of justice.   It is the further intent of the Legislature that collateral representation shall not include representation during retrials, resentencings, proceedings commenced under chapter 940, or civil litigation.

PER CURIAM.

KOGAN, C.J., and SHAW, GRIMES, HARDING, WELLS and ANSTEAD, JJ., concur. OVERTON, J., concurs with an opinion, in which KOGAN, C.J. and ANSTEAD, J., concur.