North Carolina § 7A-343 - Duties of Director.

§ 7A-343. Duties of Director.

The Director is the Administrative Officer of the Courts, and the Director's duties include all of the following: Collect and compile statistical data and other information on the judicial and financial operation of the courts and on the operation of other offices directly related to and serving the courts. Determine the state of the dockets and evaluate the practices and procedures of the courts, and make recommendations concerning the number of judges, district attorneys, and magistrates required for the efficient administration of justice. Prescribe uniform administrative and business methods, systems, forms and records to be used in the offices of the clerks of superior court. Maintain and staff as necessary an Internal Audit Division of the Judicial Department and the Administrative Office of the Courts that: Evaluates and discloses potential weaknesses in the effectiveness of internal controls in the court system for the purpose of safeguarding public funds and assets and minimizing incidences of fraud, waste, and abuse. Examines and analyzes the design and effectiveness of administrative and procedural operations. Ensures overall compliance with federal and State laws, internal and external regulations, rules and procedures, and other applicable requirements. Inspects and reviews the effectiveness and efficiency of processes and proceedings conducted by judicial officers. Collaborates with other divisions to guide, direct, and support court officials in efforts to conform to both recommended and required compliance standards. Executes routine audits of the Judicial Department's systems and controls, including, but not limited to: Accounting systems and controls. Administrative systems and controls. Electronic data processing systems and controls. Prepare and submit budget estimates of State appropriations necessary for the maintenance and operation of the Judicial Department, and authorize expenditures from funds appropriated for these purposes. Investigate, make recommendations concerning, and assist in the securing of adequate physical accommodations for the General Court of Justice. Procure, distribute, exchange, transfer, and assign such equipment, books, forms and supplies as are to be acquired with State funds for the General Court of Justice. Make recommendations for the improvement of the operations of the Judicial Department. Prepare and submit an annual report on the work of the Judicial Department to the Chief Justice, and transmit a copy by March 15 of each year to the Chairs of the House of Representatives and Senate Appropriations Committees on Justice and Public Safety and to the Chairs of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety. Prepare and submit an annual report on the activities of each North Carolina business court site to the Chief Justice, the chairs of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety, the chairs of the of the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Justice and Public Safety, and all other members of the General Assembly on February 1. The report shall include the following information for each business court site: The number of new, closed, and pending cases for the previous three years. The average age of pending cases. The number of motions pending over six months after being filed. The number of cases in which bench trials have been concluded for over six months without entry of judgment, including any accompanying explanation provided by the Business Court. Assist the Chief Justice in performing his duties relating to the transfer of district court judges for temporary or specialized duty. Establish and operate systems and services that provide for electronic filing in the court system and further provide electronic transaction processing and access to court information systems pursuant to G.S. 7A-343.2. Enter into contracts with one or more private vendors to provide for the payment of fines, fees, and costs due to the court by credit, charge, or debit cards; such contracts may provide for the assessment of a convenience or transaction fee by the vendor to cover the costs of providing this service. Prescribe policies and procedures for the appointment and payment of foreign language interpreters. These policies and procedures shall be applied uniformly throughout the General Court of Justice. After consultation with the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, the Director may also convert contractual foreign language interpreter positions to permanent State positions when the Director determines that it is more cost-effective to do so. Analyze the use of contractual positions in the Judicial Department and, after consultation with the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, convert contractual positions to permanent State positions when the Director determines it is in the best interests of the Judicial Department to do so. Prescribe policies and procedures for the appointment and payment of deaf and hearing-impaired interpreters, in accordance with G.S. 8B-8(a), for those cases specified in G.S. 8B-8(b) and (c). These policies and procedures shall be applied uniformly throughout the General Court of Justice. After consultation with the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations, the Director may also convert contractual hearing-impaired interpreter positions to permanent State positions when the Director determines that it is more cost-effective to do so. Prescribe policies and procedures for the payment of those experts acting on behalf of the court or prosecutorial offices, as provided for in G.S. 7A-314(d). Prescribe policies and procedures for chief district court judges to establish school-justice partnerships with local law enforcement agencies, local boards of education, and local school administrative units with the goal of reducing in-school arrests, out-of-school suspensions, and expulsions. Perform such additional duties and exercise such additional powers as may be prescribed by statute or assigned by the Chief Justice. Prescribe policies and procedures for the assignment and compensation of magistrates performing temporary duty outside their county of residence when exigent circumstances exist, as provided for in G.S. 7A-146(9). Issue photographic identification cards to appropriate Judicial Department employees and officials authorizing those employees and officials to travel to and from, enter, and work in court and court-related locations for the conduct or support of essential court operations in preparation for, during, or in the aftermath of emergency situations, including, but not limited to, catastrophic conditions. Notwithstanding any other provision of the law, and notwithstanding any emergency restrictions on travel or closures that may have been issued due to the emergency situations, an identification card issued pursuant to this subdivision shall be honored by all State and local law enforcement, emergency and health officers, and other authorities to permit the person to whom the card was issued to travel to and from court and court-related locations and otherwise carry out the purposes authorized by this subdivision. An identification card issued pursuant to this subdivision shall set forth its effective date and the full name, position, and employing unit of the person to whom the card is issued, with a provision, signed by the person, stating that the person is credentialed solely for the purposes stated in this subdivision and that the card shall not be used for any other purpose. Prescribe policies and procedures and establish and operate systems for the exchange of criminal and civil information from and to the Judicial Department and local, State, and federal governments and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Transfer equipment and supply funds to the appropriate programs and between programs as the equipment priorities and supply consumptions occur during the operating year. Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 138-6(a)(1), elect to establish a per-mile reimbursement rate for transportation by privately owned vehicles at a rate less than the business standard mileage rate set by the Internal Revenue Service. Prepare and submit an annual report on appeals of termination of parental rights cases and transmit by February 1 of each year to the Chief Justice and the General Assembly. The report shall include the following information: The number of notices of appeal for termination of parental rights cases that were properly filed with the trial court. The date on which each notice of appeal for a termination of parental rights case was filed and the date that the record was filed with the Court of Appeals. The date that the Court of Appeals issued a final opinion for each appeal for a termination of parental rights case. For termination of parental rights cases heard by the Supreme Court, the date that the record is received by the Supreme Court and the date that the Supreme Court issued a final opinion. For all appeals of termination of parental rights cases, the average age of those cases measured from both (i) the date the notice of appeal was filed and (ii) the date the record was filed with the court. This information shall be provided for both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. The report shall include an accounting of all business court activities for the previous fiscal year, including the itemized annual expenditures. History (1965, c. 310, s. 1; 1967, c. 1049, s. 5; 1973, c. 47, s. 2; 1999-237, s. 17.15(a); 2006-187, ss. 1(b), 2(b), 5(b); 2007-393, s. 11; 2009-516, s. 3; 2010-31, s. 15.12.; 2011-411, s. 2(a); 2012-142, s. 16.3(b); 2014-100, s. 18B.1(a); 2014-102, s. 5; 2015-241, s. 18A.1; 2017-57, ss. 16D.4(aa), 18B.4(b); 2018-138, s. 2.12(d); 2018-142, s. 23(b); 2019-243, s. 5(a); 2021-18, s. 4.) School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative. - Session Laws 2011-145, s. 10.15(a)-(f), provides: "(a) School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative Established. "(1) Purpose and duties. - There is established the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative. The purpose of the Initiative is to identify and coordinate appropriate community services and supports for children at risk of school failure or out-of-home placement in order to address the physical, social, legal, emotional, and developmental factors that affect academic performance. The Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Public Instruction, the State Board of Education, the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [Division of Juvenile Justice], the Administrative Office of the Courts, and other State agencies that provide services for children shall share responsibility and accountability to improve outcomes for these children and their families. The Initiative shall be based on the following principles: "a. The development of a strong infrastructure of interagency collaboration. "b. One child, one team, one plan. "c. Individualized, strengths-based care. "d. Accountability. "e. Cultural competence. "f. Children at risk of school failure or out-of-home placement may enter the system through any participating agency. "g. Services shall be specified, delivered, and monitored through a unified Child and Family Plan that is outcome-oriented and evaluation-based. "h. Services shall be the most efficient in terms of cost and effectiveness and shall be delivered in the most natural settings possible. "i. Out-of-home placements for children shall be a last resort and shall include concrete plans to bring the children back to a stable permanent home, their schools, and their community. "j. Families and consumers shall be involved in decision making throughout service planning, delivery, and monitoring. "(2) Program goals and services. - In order to ensure that children receiving services are appropriately served, the affected State and local agencies shall do the following: "a. Increase capacity in the school setting to address the academic, health, mental health, social, and legal needs of children. "b. Ensure that children receiving services are screened initially to identify needs and assessed periodically to determine progress and sustained improvement in educational, health, safety, behavioral, and social outcomes. "c. Develop uniform screening mechanisms and a set of outcomes that are shared across affected agencies to measure children's progress in home, school, and community settings. "d. Promote practices that are known to be effective based upon research or national best practice standards. "e. Review services provided across affected State agencies to ensure that children's needs are met. "f. Eliminate cost-shifting and facilitate cost-sharing among governmental agencies with respect to service development, service delivery, and monitoring for participating children and their families. "g. Participate in a local memorandum of agreement signed annually by the participating superintendent of the local LEA, directors of the county departments of social services and health, director of the local management entity, the chief district court judge, and the chief district court counselor. "(3) Local level responsibilities. - In coordination with the North Carolina Child and Family Leadership Council (Council), established in subsection (b) of this section, the local board of education shall establish the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative at designated schools and shall appoint the Child and Family Team Leaders, who shall be a school nurse and a school social worker. Each local management entity that has any selected schools in its catchment area shall appoint a Care Coordinator, and any department of social services that has a selected school in its catchment area shall appoint a Child and Family Teams Facilitator. The Care Coordinators and Child and Family Team Facilitators shall have as their sole responsibility working with the selected schools in their catchment areas and shall provide training to school-based personnel, as required. The Child and Family Team Leaders shall identify and screen children who are potentially at risk of academic failure or out-of-home placement due to physical, social, legal, emotional, or developmental factors. Based on the screening results, responsibility for developing, convening, and implementing the Child and Family Team Initiative is as follows: "a. School personnel shall take the lead role for those children and their families whose primary unmet needs are related to academic achievement. "b. The local management entity shall take the lead role for those children and their families whose primary unmet needs are related to mental health, substance abuse, or developmental disabilities and who meet the criteria for the target population established by the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services. "c. The local department of public health shall take the lead role for those children and their families whose primary unmet needs are health-related. "d. Local departments of social services shall take the lead for those children and their families whose primary unmet needs are related to child welfare, abuse, or neglect. "e. The chief district court counselor shall take the lead for those children and their families whose primary unmet needs are related to juvenile justice issues. A representative from each named or otherwise identified publicly supported children's agency shall participate as a member of the Team as needed. Team members shall coordinate, monitor, and assure the successful implementation of a unified Child and Family Plan. "(4) Reporting requirements. - School-Based Child and Family Team Leaders shall provide data to the Council for inclusion in their report to the North Carolina General Assembly. The report shall include the following: "a. The number of and other demographic information on children screened and assigned to a team and a description of the services needed by and provided to these children. "b. The number of and information about children assigned to a team who are placed in programs or facilities outside the child's home or outside the child's county and the average length of stay in residential treatment. "c. The amount and source of funds expended to implement the Initiative. "d. Information on how families and consumers are involved in decision making throughout service planning, delivery, and monitoring. "e. Other information as required by the Council to evaluate success in local programs and ensure appropriate outcomes. "f. Recommendations on needed improvements. "(5) Local advisory committee. - In each county with a participating school, the superintendent of the local LEA shall either identify an existing cross-agency collaborative or council or shall form a new group to serve as a local advisory committee to work with the Initiative. Newly formed committees shall be chaired by the superintendent and one other member of the committee to be elected by the committee. The local advisory committee shall include the directors of the county departments of social services and health; the directors of the local management entity; the chief district court judge; the chief district court counselor; the director of a school-based or school-linked health center, if a center is located within the catchment area of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative; and representatives of other agencies providing services to children, as designated by the Committee. The members of the Committee shall meet as needed to monitor and support the successful implementation of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative. The Local Child and Family Team Advisory Committee may designate existing cross-agency collaboratives or councils as working groups or to provide assistance in accomplishing established goals. "(b) North Carolina Child and Family Leadership Council. - "(1) Leadership Council established; location. - There is established the North Carolina Child and Family Leadership Council (Council). The Council shall be located within the Department of Administration for organizational and budgetary purposes. "(2) Purpose. - The purpose of the Council is to review and advise the Governor in the development of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative and to ensure the active participation and collaboration in the Initiative by all State agencies and their local counterparts providing services to children in participating counties in order to increase the academic success of and reduce out-of-home and out-of-county placements of children at risk of academic failure. "(3) Membership. - The Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall serve as cochairs of the Council. Council membership shall include the Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [Secretary of Public Safety], the Chair of the State Board of Education, the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, and other members as appointed by the Governor. "(4) The Council shall do the following: "a. Sign an annual memorandum of agreement (MOA) among the named State agencies to define the purposes of the program and to ensure that program goals are accomplished. "b. Resolve State policy issues, as identified at the local level, which interfere with effective implementation of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative. "c. Direct the integration of resources, as needed, to meet goals and ensure that the Initiative promotes the most effective and efficient use of resources and eliminates duplication of effort. "d. Establish criteria for defining success in local programs and ensure appropriate outcomes. "e. Develop an evaluation process, based on expected outcomes, to ensure the goals and objectives of this Initiative are achieved. "f. Review progress made on integrating policies and resources across State agencies, reaching expected outcomes, and accomplishing other goals. "g. Report semiannually, on January 1 and July 1, on progress made and goals achieved to the Office of the Governor, the Joint Appropriations Committees and Subcommittees on Education, Justice and Public Safety, and Health and Human Services, and the Fiscal Research Division of the Legislative Services Office. The Council may designate existing cross-agency collaboratives or councils as working groups or to provide assistance in accomplishing established goals. "(c) Department of Health and Human Services. - The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services shall ensure that all agencies within the Department collaborate in the development and implementation of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative and provide all required support to ensure that the Initiative is successful. "(d) Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [Division of Juvenile Justice]. - The Secretary of the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention [Secretary of Public Safety] shall ensure that all agencies within the Department [Division] collaborate in the development and implementation of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative and provide all required support to ensure that the Initiative is successful. "(e) Administrative Office of the Courts. - The Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts shall ensure that the Office collaborates in the development and implementation of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative and shall provide all required support to ensure that the Initiative is successful. "(f) Department of Public Instruction. - The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall ensure that the Department collaborates in the development and implementation of the School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative and shall provide all required support to ensure that the Initiative is successful." Editor's Note. - Session Laws 2006-187, s. 13, provides in part: "Section 2 of this act is effective when it becomes law and applies to all matters filed with the courts on or after the date that the Supreme Court adopts rules for electronic filing as authorized by that section." Subdivision (9b), as enacted by Session Laws 2006-187, s. 5(b), was redesignated as subdivision (9c) at the direction of the Revisor of Statutes. Session Laws 2011-145, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2011.'" Session Laws 2011-145, s. 32.2, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2011-2013 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2011-145, s. 32.5 is a severability clause. Session Laws 2017-57, s. 16.5(a) and (b), provides: "(a) The Department of Public Safety, the Department of Justice, and the Judicial Department shall each report by May 1 of each year to the chairs of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety on grant funds received or preapproved for receipt by those departments. The report shall include information on the amount of grant funds received or preapproved for receipt by each department, the use of the funds, the State match expended to receive the funds, and the period to be covered by each grant. If a department intends to continue the program beyond the end of the grant period, that department shall report on the proposed method for continuing the funding of the program at the end of the grant period. Each department shall also report on any information it may have indicating that the State will be requested to provide future funding for a program presently supported by a local grant. "(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of G.S. 143C-6-9, the Department of Public Safety may use up to the sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) during the 2017-2018 fiscal year and up to the sum of one million two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) during the 2018-2019 fiscal year from funds available to the Department to provide the State match needed in order to receive grant funds. Prior to using funds for this purpose, the Department shall report to the chairs of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety on the grants to be matched using these funds." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 16D.4(tt), as amended by Session Laws 2018-142, s. 23(b), provides: "Sections 16D.4(a) through 16D.4(s) of this act become effective December 1, 2019, and apply to offenses committed on or after that date. Sections 16D.4(t) through 16D.4(x) of this act become effective October 1, 2017, and Sections 16D.4(t) through 16D.4(w) apply to all complaints filed on or after that date. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the remainder of this section is effective when it becomes law. Prosecutions or delinquency proceedings initiated for offenses committed before any particular subsection of this section becomes effective are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that are in effect on the dates the offenses are committed remain applicable to those prosecutions." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 1.1, provides: "This act shall be known as the 'Current Operations Appropriations Act of 2017.'" Session Laws 2017-57, s. 39.4, provides: "Except for statutory changes or other provisions that clearly indicate an intention to have effects beyond the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium, the textual provisions of this act apply only to funds appropriated for, and activities occurring during, the 2017-2019 fiscal biennium." Session Laws 2017-57, s. 39.6, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2017-122, s. 1, provides: "In order to make North Carolina a leading jurisdiction for the resolution of business, commercial, financial, and other legal disputes, the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, shall submit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore a report recommending whether and how to establish an arbitration program within the North Carolina Business Court, including how parties may make themselves subject to the jurisdiction of said program, required qualifications and trainings for arbitrators, and requirements for persons who may represent parties in arbitration proceedings before the Business Court. Such recommendations may include suggestions on the form of appeal for both binding and nonbinding arbitrations in cases arbitrated under such a proposal. The Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts or through the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission may also include recommendations for establishing a mediation program operated by the Business Court, including suggestions as to how parties may make themselves subject to the jurisdiction of said program, required qualifications for mediators, and for persons who may represent parties in mediation proceedings." Session Laws 2017-158, s. 26.6, provides: "In order to make North Carolina a leading jurisdiction for the resolution of business, commercial, financial, and other legal disputes, the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, in consultation with the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, shall submit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate a report recommending whether and how to establish an arbitration program within the North Carolina Business Court, including how parties may make themselves subject to the jurisdiction of said program, required qualifications and trainings for arbitrators, and requirements for persons who may represent parties in arbitration proceedings before the Business Court. Such recommendations may include suggestions on the form of appeal for both binding and nonbinding arbitrations in cases arbitrated under such a proposal. The Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts or through the North Carolina Dispute Resolution Commission may also include recommendations for establishing a mediation program operated by the Business Court, including suggestions as to how parties may make themselves subject to the jurisdiction of said program, required qualifications for mediators, and for persons who may represent parties in mediation proceedings." Session Laws 2021-18, s. 5, made subdivisions (16), as added by Session Laws 2021-18, s. 4, effective July 1, 2021, and applicable to appeals filed on or after that date. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2006-187, ss. 1(b), 2(b), and 5(b), effective August 3, 2006, in subdivision (9a), added "provide for electronic filing in the court system and further"; and added subdivisions (9b) and (9c). For applicability provisions, see Editor's note. Session Laws 2007-393, s. 11, effective October 1, 2007, added subdivision (9d); and made minor stylistic changes throughout. Session Laws 2009-516, s. 3, effective August 26, 2009, added subdivision (3a). Session Laws 2010-31, s. 15.12, effective July 1, 2010, added subdivisions (9e) and (9f). Session Laws 2011-411, s. 2(a), effective September 15, 2011, added the last sentence in subdivision (8); and added subdivisions (11) through (15). Session Laws 2012-142, s. 16.3(b), effective July 1, 2012, substituted "interpreters" for "interpreters in those cases specified in G.S. 7A-314(f)" in subdivision (9c). Session Laws 2014-100, s. 18B.1(a), effective July 1, 2014, rewrote subdivision (8). Session Laws 2014-102, s. 5, effective August 6, 2014, added subdivision (8a). Session Laws 2015-241, s. 18A.1, effective July 1, 2015, in subdivision (8), inserted "by March 15 of each year" and substituted "and Senate Appropriations Committees on Justice and Public Safety" for "Appropriations Subcommittee on Justice and Public Safety and the Senate Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety." Session Laws 2017-57, ss. 16D.4(aa) and 18B.4(b), effective July 28, 2017, rewrote subdivision (8a); and added subdivision (9g). Session Laws 2018-138, s. 2.12(d), effective December 3, 2018, in subdivision (11), substituted "when exigent circumstances exist" for "during an emergency" following "county of residence." Session Laws 2019-243, s. 5(a), effective November 6, 2019, in the first paragraph of subdivision (8a), substituted "an annual" for "a semiannual" near the beginning and deleted "and August 1" following "February 1" at the end of the first sentence; and deleted "August 1" preceding "report" in the concluding language of subdivision (8). Session Laws 2021-18, s. 42, added subdivision (16). For effective date and applicability, see editor's note.