Chief Justice of the Commonwealth Laurance B. VanMeter will give his first State of the Judiciary address on Friday before the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary. The meeting is open to the public and media and will take place at 11 a.m. EDT in room 149 of the Capitol Annex, 702 Capital Ave. in Frankfort.
KET will livestream the meeting on its legislative channel and post a recorded version within 24 hours.
The entire IJC meeting Friday will focus on Judicial Branch matters.
Following Chief Justice VanMeter’s address, the committee will hear from Deputy Chief Justice Debra Hembree Lambert about the work of the Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health, of which she is chair. Administrative Office of the Courts Director Katie C. Comstock and the head of AOC Pretrial Services will cap off the meeting with an update on Senate Bill 90.
Chief Justice VanMeter will use the 2023 State of the Judiciary address to talk about the progress the court system is making in areas including Specialty Courts and Pretrial Services and to discuss the continuing need for Judicial Branch elected officials and employees to reach pay parity with the other branches of state government. He will present funding needs for court facilities across Kentucky.
In a technology update, the chief justice will cover the move to mandatory eFiling for attorneys and judges and plans for a new case management system.
His remarks will conclude with a look toward the future of the legal practice in Kentucky, discussing Kentucky Bar Association initiatives to address the shortage of attorneys in rural communities and artificial intelligence.
The chief justice is responsible for the administrative operations of the Judicial Branch. Chief Justice VanMeter took office as chief justice in January after his colleagues elected him to the post. He was elected as a justice from the 5th Supreme Court District in November 2016. After nearly 30 years on the bench, he is not seeking re-election at the conclusion of his term at the end of 2024. He has served at all four levels of the Kentucky court system.