January 2015 Newsletter

General Assembly 2015: Bill On Magistrate System Changes Pulled

The patron of a controversial bill to remove OES’s managerial responsibility for the magistrate system withdrew the legislative proposal during a meeting of the Virginia Senate’s Courts of Justice Committee.  SB 680, which was sponsored by Senator Bill Carrico, would have transferred managerial control of the magistrate system from the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia back to the Chief Circuit Court judges of the state’s individual judicial districts. 

According to the Virginia General Assembly’s legislative information system, Senator Carrico requested that the bill be stricken from the record during a meeting of the Senate’s Courts of Justice committee on January 19^th.

Citizen Warrant Bill Amended:  The Senate Courts of Justice Committee also discussed a bill that would have required an attorney for the commonwealth or a law enforcement agency to authorize a citizen to obtain a misdemeanor warrant from a magistrate.  However these provisions of Senate Bill 794, which was also sponsored by Bill Carrico, were ultimately removed before the bill passed committee.  The final version of the bill reworded the existing policy provisions of sections 19.2-72 and 19.2-271 of the code of Virginia without making any notable substantive changes to existing policy on citizen warrants.

VMA Weighs In With Policy Research Report: This year, the VMA’s legislative committee published its first annual policy research guide, which was subsequently mailed to the members of the Senate’s Courts of Justice Committee before the January 19^th hearing.  The report contained a summary of the Association’s polling data and Executive Board discussion of SB 680.  It also mentioned that the Association did not have sufficient time to study the issues presented in SB 794. 

Election 2015: Association To Elect New President, Other Officers

At the January 19^th meeting of the Executive Board of the Virginia Magistrates Association, the Board started planning for a new election of Association Officers.  The election will be held in September for the offices of President, Vice President, 2^nd Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer.  Only dues paying members will be eligible to vote in the election, which will be conducted electronically. 

To run for office prospective candidates must first enroll as members of the Association. [Please contact secretary Kevin Lacey for enrollment information]  Next, the candidates must fill out nomination information and submit it to the election chair Ray Stanfield.  This nominations form will be distributed by Ray Stanfield between March and April of the current year.   

Lack Of Incumbents Creates Opportunity For Candidates:  President Wilson Talavera will conclude his second consecutive two year term as President of the Virginia Magistrates Association at the end of the present calendar year.  However, Wilson will not be able to run for a third term because he is prohibited from doing so under the Association’s by laws.  Wilson isn’t the only incumbent who will not be seeking office again.  Treasurer Phil Goodwin announced at the January meeting that he would not seek another term as Treasurer. 

This year’s election also offers an opportunity for magistrate’s to acquire valuable management and leadership experience by serving as officers in the Virginia Magistrates Association. Officers of the association are responsible for administering the association’s budget, coordinating volunteer activities with the membership, and assisting in the administration of the Association. 

Board Reassigns Web Site Responsibilities

At its January meeting, the VMA Executive Board passed a motion to transfer editorial responsibility for the Association’s web site from President Wilson Talavera to Region 6 Representative Paula Marquis and Region 8 Representative Kara Akins.  The VMA’s website can be viewed at http://vmaja.org/index.html.

New Scholarship Contemplated:  The Executive Board also considered a proposal from Regional Representative Tamyra Whitehead to create a new scholarship that would go to directly assisting members with continuing education.  Currently, the VMA offers college scholarships for the children of magistrate’s, but does not have a scholarship that gores directly to VMA members.  The board referred the matter to the scholarship committee chaired by Iris Tucker for further review.

Volunteers Needed For Policy Research Project

In light of the policy issues raised by the introduction of SB 794, the VMA legislative committee is looking for volunteers to conduct quantitative and qualitative research on the effectiveness of citizen initiated criminal cases in Virginia.  Any interested volunteers should contact secretary Kevin Lacey at va.mag.assoc@gmail.com.

October 2014 Newsletter

VMA Board Meets With Head of State Employees’ Association

At its quarterly board meeting, the VMA Executive Board met with Ron Jordan, the executive director of the Virginia State Employee’s Association (VGEA) for a briefing on the activities of his organization and how it can benefit Virginia’s magistrates in the future. 

The role of the VGEA is to represent the interests of Virginia’s state employees before the Virginia General Assembly, and to assist its members in resolving disputes between state employees and their managers.

Jordan said that over the past few years, the VGEA has become a powerful force in Virginia politics and has claimed credit for a number of legislative victories that have helped to preserve the state’s retirement system, and the health benefits of state employees. 

Unfortunately, the VGEA’s focus on protecting employee benefits has made it difficult to address the issue of stagnant employee salaries across the state, Jordan stated.   

That said, Jordan expressed his hope that the VGEA and its team of expert lobbyists will be in a good position to address this issue within the next two to three years. 

Joint Membership Agreement Contemplated: Jordan was also open to the possibility of a joint membership agreement between the VGEA and the VMA.  A joint membership agreement would allow magistrates to automatically enroll in the VGEA when they pay their dues to the VMA.  However Jordan cautioned that such an agreement would likely take some time to negotiate.  In the meantime, VMA members are free to enroll in the VGEA as individuals. 

VMA Opinion Poll Shows Majority Support For SB 680. 

An opinion poll of VMA members shows that a majority of the Association’s membership either supports or partially supports a proposal to strip OES of its managerial responsibilities over the Virginia Magistrate System.  SB 680, which is sponsored by Senator Bill Carrico would move managerial responsibility of Virginia’s Magistrates from OES back to the Chief Circuit Judges in each locality.   According to the polling data collected by the VMA, 54.76% of respondents indicated either support for or partial support for SB 680.  In contrast, 21.43% of respondents had no opinion and 23.81% did not support the bill.

Executive Board Debate Reflects Membership Opinion: In a rigorous debate concerning the merits of SB 680, a majority of the Executive Board agreed with the majority of VMA members that Chief Circuit Court Judges are better suited to appoint and manage magistrates than the regional supervisors appointed by OES.  There were however some rigorous dissenting voices on the board who raised concerns that the proposed changes could interfere with judicial decision making and open the door to widespread part time employment. 

The Executive Board did however agree that regardless of who manages the magistrate system, the VMA should encourage the adoption of pro-employee policies, most notably the removal of restrictions on localities supplementing the salaries of magistrates appointed after 2008.  

Talavera Authorized To Appoint Director of Legislative Affairs: The VMA Executive Board also passed a motion to authorize President Talavera to appoint a director of legislative affairs.  The board agreed that once appointed the director would advise outside entities of VMA policy opinions, and promote pro-employee policies.  The board also agreed that the director should not be a current judicial employee.

Election 2014: VMA Welcomes New Officers

A competitive election during the summer of 2014 led to the election of new officers to the VMA Executive Board as well as the ratification of two amendments to the bylaws of the association.  Iris Tucker was elected as representative of Region 1.   Kyle Schumacher was elected as representative of Region 5.     Tamyra Whitehead was elected as representative of Region 7, and Kara Akins was elected as representative of Region 8. In addition Paula Marquis and Louis Kroiz were appointed by President Talavera as  representative of Region 6 and representative of Region 2 respectively. 

Amendments To Bylaws Ratified: Two proposed bylaws to the Association were also ratified by the general membership of the association in the last election.   The first amendment changes the quorum requirement to a simple majority of all filled positions, instead of total positions.  The second amendment allows former but not yet retired magistrates to become members of the association.  

Website Service Restored. 

The VMA website is now up and running again thanks to the swift actions of President Talavera.  The association’s new website address is www.vmaja.org.  The VMA has also launched a linkedin profile which contains an additional link to the association’s blog.