Section 6: Court facilities council
Section 6. There is hereby established a court facilities council. The membership of the council shall consist of the following persons: the court administrator for the trial court or his designee, who shall serve as chairman of the council; the administrative justices of the superior, district, juvenile court, Boston municipal court and probate departments of the trial court or their designees; appointed by the court administrator, or the designee of such appointed justice; two sitting justices of the trial court, appointed by the court administrator; a justice of the supreme judicial court or the appeals court, appointed by the chief justice of the supreme judicial court, or the designee of such appointed justice; the librarian of the social law library, or his designee; five representative county commissioners of counties which retain ownership of court facilities occupied by the judicial branch of the commonwealth and a designee of Local 254 Service Employees International Union, Massachusetts State Labor Council, AFL–CIO, appointed by the governor. All appointed members of said council shall serve three-year terms; provided, however, that of the first such county commissioners appointed to said council, two shall be appointed to serve one-year terms, two shall be appointed to serve two-year terms, and one shall be appointed to serve a three-year term; provided, further, that if any such appointed member shall cease to qualify for membership, the appointing authority shall appoint a successor to serve the remainder of the term of such disqualified member.
The council shall meet periodically and shall advise the commissioner of capital asset management and maintenance and the court administrator of the trial court regarding the exercise of their powers and duties with respect to court facilities. The council shall study and periodically review the possibility of consolidating or sharing facilities across jurisdictional lines in order to avoid duplication and increase efficiency. The council shall monitor compliance by the counties, cities and towns with accounting and expenditure requirements and lease conditions established pursuant to section four, and shall report any noncompliance so significant as to jeopardize the safe or effective use by the judicial branch of a rented court facility to the house and senate committees on ways and means and to the joint committee on the judiciary, with a recommendation that the commonwealth assume control of such court facility; provided, however, that the court administrator shall adopt criteria, with the advice of the council but without compliance with chapter thirty, specifying the type or degree of noncompliance necessary to justify such a recommendation.