THE COURTS
Title 249—PHILADELPHIA RULES
PHILADELPHIA COUNTY
Amendment of Philadelphia Traffic Court Local Rule No. 1036; Administrative Order 01 of 2010
[40 Pa.B. 4917]
[Saturday, August 28, 2010]
Order And Now, this 9th day of August, 2010, It Is Hereby Ordered that Philadelphia Traffic Court Local Rule No. 1036, is amended as follows.
As required by Pa.R.Crim.P. No. 105(D), the proposed amended rule has been submitted to the Supreme Court's Criminal Procedural Rules Committee for review and written notification has been received from the Committee certifying that the proposed amended rule is not inconsistent with any general rule of the Supreme Court. The original Administrative Order and amended local rule shall be filed with the Prothonotary in a docket maintained for Administrative Orders issued by the Administrative Judge of the Philadelphia Traffic Court, and, as required by Pa.R.Crim.P. No. 105(E), two certified copies of this Administrative Order and amended local rule as well as a copy on a computer diskette shall be distributed to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The amended local rule will become effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. As required by Pa.R.Crim.P. No. 105(F) one certified copy of this Administrative Order and amended local rule shall be filed with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts and the local rule will also be published on the Unified Judicial System's web site at http://ujsportal.pacourts.us/localrules/ruleselection.aspx and posted on the First Judicial District's web site at http://courts.phila.gov. Copies of this Administrative Order and amended local rule shall be published in The Legal Intelligencer and will be submitted to American Lawyer Media, Jenkins Memorial Law Library, and the Law Library for the First Judicial District.
By the Court
HONORABLE BERNICE A. DeANGELIS,
Administrative Judge
Philadelphia Traffic CourtPhiladelphia Traffic Court Local Rule 1036. Traffic Court Hearing Officers.
(a) Qualifications. Traffic Court Hearing Officers shall be knowledgeable with the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code and the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, and any other rules or laws which control the issuance, processing and disposition of citations issued pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Code, including these Local Rules, shall complete an initial course of training and instruction of not less than [thirty-five (35)] twenty (20) hours as may be established from time to time by the Administrative Judge of the Traffic Court, shall possess such experience and educational requirements as may be established from time to time by the Administrative Judge of the Traffic Court, and must pass a written examination and be certified by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts prior to assuming office. Attendance at training courses conducted by or on behalf of the Minor Judiciary Education Board may satisfy the training and instructional requirements.
(b) Continuing Education. Traffic Court Hearing Officer shall complete a continuing education program each year equivalent to not less than [twenty (20)] ten (10) hours per year in such courses or programs as may be established from time to time by the Administrative Judge of the Traffic Court. Attendance of continuing education courses conducted by or on behalf of the Minor Judiciary Education Board may satisfy the continuing education requirement. Failure to meet the continuing education requirements on a yearly basis shall result in the Hearing Officer being suspended, without pay, until such time as the continuing education requirements are met.
(c) Duties. As authorized by Pa.R.Crim.P. 1036(A), Traffic Court Hearing Officers are authorized to perform the following duties:
(1) set collateral consistent with Pa.R.Crim.P. 452 and 1034;
(2) establish or re-establish payment plans consistent with Pa.R.Crim.P. 456;
(3) conduct warrant hearings as provided in Local Rule 1033. At the conclusion of the warrant hearing, the Hearing Officer shall:
(i) if it appears that a summary trial can be held immediately, forward the case to a Traffic Court judge for an immediate summary trial;
(ii) if it appears that a summary trial cannot be held immediately, schedule a summary trial date and serve the notice on the defendant and determine whether collateral must be posted by the defendant to secure defendant's release pending the summary trial. The Scheduling Orders shall be substantially as set forth in Local Rule 1033;
(iii) release the defendant unless collateral has been ordered and is not posted. If collateral is ordered and is not posted, the defendant shall be brought to the county prison and held pending the summary trial or hearing. However, the defendant shall be released at any time before the summary trial or hearing when the collateral is posted; and
(iv) direct that all outstanding Traffic Court warrants against the defendant be withdrawn.
(4) such other duties as may, from time to time, be designed by the Administrative Judge of the Philadelphia Traffic Court through an amendment to this Local Rule.
COMMENT: The Traffic Court Hearing Officer shall set collateral, pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 1034, in a reasonable amount, i.e. an amount which upon consideration of the defendant's income and the defendant's expenses may be reasonably posted by the defendant. It is the intention of the court that most, if not all, defendants arrested pursuant to Traffic Court warrants will be released pending the date of the summary trial or hearing. However, should Traffic Court records disclose that the defendant has a history of failure to appear for Traffic Court summary trials or hearings, especially after personal service of the notice of trial or scheduling order, the defendant may be held until the summary trial or hearing date and may be released only upon payment of the full amount of collateral or outstanding fines. Should the defendant be ordered held until the date of the summary trial or hearing, the summary trial or hearing should be scheduled as soon as practical.
Adopted January 3, 2006, published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on January 14, 2006, and effective on February 13, 2006; Amended on August 9, 2010, Effective on ______ (thirty days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin).
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 10-1576. Filed for public inspection August 27, 2010, 9:00 a.m.]
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
