STATE OF OKLAHOMA

1st Session of the 52nd Legislature (2009)

SENATE BILL 1009	By:	Corn

AS INTRODUCED

An Act relating to courts; amending 20 O.S. 2001, Section 91.2, as amended by Section 16, Chapter 368, O.S.L. 2004 (20 O.S. Supp. 2008, Section 91.2), which relates to dockets; authorizing creation of a veterans docket; stating legislative findings; authorizing creation of certain court division in specified districts; requiring promulgation of certain rules; providing for codification; and providing an effective date.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1.     AMENDATORY     20 O.S. 2001, Section 91.2, as amended by Section 16, Chapter 368, O.S.L. 2004 (20 O.S. Supp. 2008, Section 91.2), is amended to read as follows:
Section 91.2  A.  To facilitate the trial and disposition of cases, actions filed in the district court shall be assigned to various dockets by the clerk of the court pursuant to the direction and supervision of the presiding judge of the district.  Until changed by order of the Supreme Court, only the following dockets are established: a civil docket, a criminal docket, a traffic docket, a probate docket, a juvenile and family relations docket, a small claims docket, and a business docket for business court divisions of the court created pursuant to Section 17 91.7 of this act title, and a veterans docket for veterans court divisions of the court created pursuant to Section 2 of this act.
B.  Whenever a district court establishes a drug court program pursuant to the provisions of Sections 471 through 471.11 of Title 22 of the Oklahoma Statutes, the judge having authority over the program shall cause to be established a drug court docket.  In those cases assigned to the drug court docket, the judge shall determine what information or pleadings are to be maintained in a confidential case file which shall be closed to public inspection.  The originating criminal case file shall remain open to public inspection.  Nothing in this section shall prohibit the district attorney, defense attorney, or the victim-witness coordinator from advising any victim or other person regarding the assignment or disposition of a drug court case.
SECTION 2.     NEW LAW     A new section of law to be codified in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 91.8 of Title 20, unless there is created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A.  The Oklahoma Legislature finds that, due to the need to provide a system of treatment, rehabilitation, education, employment and judicial monitoring to combat veterans who have entered the criminal justice system, there is a need for a court in Oklahoma’s most populated counties with specific jurisdiction over actions involving such veterans.
B.  The Supreme Court is authorized to create a veterans court division within the district court of any judicial district containing a municipality with a population in excess of three hundred thousand (300,000), according to the latest Federal Decennial Census.
B.  The Supreme Court shall promulgate rules for the establishment and jurisdiction of the veterans court divisions.
SECTION 3.  This act shall become effective November 1, 2009.

52-1-81	TEK	1/15/2009 3:01:35 PM