HOUSE BILL 1411, a measure that would transfer up to $300,000 to district and probate court security, is moving quickly through the Legislature - which will hopefully keep the courts from closing their doors next month.

At press time, HB 1411 had been unanimously approved by the House Finance Committee and was scheduled to move to the House floor on Feb. 14, according to NH District Court Administrative Judge Edwin W. Kelly. From there, the bill would be hand-delivered to the Senate for scheduling before one of its committees, then to the Senate floor.

HB 1411 would transfer surplus funds from two capital appropriations - for a halfway house and prison expansion - to district court security.

Kelly said the speed at which the measure is moving leaves him hopeful that the courts will not have to close their doors come March, a possibility that he warned of at last month's NHBA Mid-Year Meeting discussion on the state's court budget crisis. During that discussion, Kelly said that money for district court security would run out in early March, months before the end of the state's fiscal year. Feeling it unsafe to operate the courts without security officers, Kelly warned that the courts would have to close their doors March 1 if additional funds were not allocated to security.

If the courts were to close on that date, Kelly would need to provide full-time security officers two weeks' layoff notice - which meant that the Legislature would have to act quickly, approving HB 1411 by Feb. 14 to avoid court closings, Kelly said at the Mid-Year Meeting.

But the courts have created for themselves - and the Legislature - a little bit of breathing room by applying about $23,000 toward keeping the courts open until at least March 11. According to Kelly, the courts had considered stopping their main operations sooner and using the $23,000 in security funds for any necessary emergency hearings, until that money ran out. Instead, the courts have decided to continue operating at full tilt until all the security money runs out, which Kelly estimates will be March 11.

"Based upon how quickly (HB 1411) is moving through the Legislature, we decided not to inconvenience the public, to continue operating at full speed until we run out of money (for security). I anticipate the funds will run completely dry March 11," Kelly said.

That gives the Legislature until Feb. 25 to act on the bill; the date by which Kelly must give layoff notices to security officers. "But we're optimistic (layoffs) won't happen," said Kelly. "We're feeling confident that this bill will make its way through the Legislature in time."

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