Senate panel approves bill revising court hours

A bill approved by a Senate committee would allow justice courts to have extended hours and four-day weeks.

SB219, which passed the Senate Government Operations Committee unanimously Monday, is primarily targeted toward West Valley City, which has been operating its justice court between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday in order to give people a chance to pay fines without having to leave work, sponsoring Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, said. The extended hours, however, currently conflict with a state law that all courts operate five days a week.

"It accommodates a lot of people to have access without losing salary money to pay their fines," Mayne said. "It's permissive but not mandatory. I suspect that there will be other cities who will try this."

Mark Jones, Utah district court administrator, said that confusion for defendants who expect normal government hours is the only problem with four-day weeks in courts, especially if people have a fine or filing due on a Friday. However, with a payment drop box or other way for Friday payments to be handled, he suspected that it could work for the justice courts, which only handle misdemeanor criminal cases and small-claim civil cases.