§601-2 Administration. (a) The chief justice shall be the administrative head of the judiciary. The chief justice shall make a report to the legislature, at each regular session thereof, of the business of the judiciary and of the administration of justice throughout the State. The chief justice shall present to the legislature a unified budget, six-year program and financial plan, and variance report for all of the programs of the judiciary. The chief justice shall also submit to the legislature annual routine repair and maintenance reports for judiciary-owned buildings, facilities, and other improvements that substantially comply with chapter 37, part VII. The chief justice shall direct the administration of the judiciary, with responsibility for the efficient operation of all of the courts and for the expeditious dispatch of all judicial business.
(b) The chief justice shall possess the following powers, subject to rules as may be adopted by the supreme court:
(1) To assign circuit judges from one circuit to another;
(2) In a circuit court with more than one judge, to:
(A) Make assignments of calendars among the circuit judges for a period as the chief justice may determine and, as deemed advisable from time to time, to change assignments of calendars or portions thereof (but not individual cases) from one judge to another; and
(B) Appoint one of the judges, for a period as the chief justice may determine, as the administrative judge to manage the business of the court, subject to the rules of the supreme court and the direction of the chief justice;
(3) To prescribe for all of the courts a uniform system of keeping and periodically reporting statistics of their business;
(4) To procure from all of the courts estimates for their appropriations; with the cooperation of the representatives of the court concerned, to review and revise them as the chief justice deems necessary for equitable provisions for the various courts according to their needs and to present the estimates, as reviewed and revised by the chief justice, to the legislature as collectively constituting a unified budget for all of the courts;
(5) To exercise exclusive authority over the preparation, explanation, and administration of the judiciary budget, programs, plans, and expenditures, including without limitation policies and practices of financial administration and the establishment of guidelines as to permissible expenditures; provided that all expenditures of the judiciary shall conform with program appropriations and provisions of the legislature, and all powers of administration over judiciary personnel that are specified in title 7; and
(6) To do all other acts that may be necessary or appropriate for the administration of the judiciary.
(c) The budget, supplemental budget, six-year program and financial plan, and the variance report of the judiciary shall be submitted by the chief justice to the legislature in accordance with the schedule of submission specified for the governor in chapter 37 and shall contain the program information prescribed in that chapter as applicable to the judiciary. By November 1 of each year preceding a legislative session in which a budget is to be submitted, the chief justice shall provide written notification to the governor of the proposed total expenditures, by cost categories and sources of funding, and estimated revenues of the judiciary for each fiscal year of the next fiscal biennium or fiscal year, as applicable. [L 1959, c 259, pt of §1(b); am imp L 1965, c 97, §24; Supp, §213-1.5; HRS §601-2; am L 1972, c 88, §1(a), (b); am L 1974, c 159, §15; am L 1977, c 159, §17; gen ch 1985; am L 2015, c 148, §5 and c 160, §9; am L 2016, c 55, §17 and c 233, §3]
Cross References
Generally, see Const. art. VI, §6.
Annual reports, see §93-12.
State-owned buildings and facilities; routine repair and maintenance annual reports, see chapter 37, part VII.