In an August 21 article in the Daily Journal, which has been reposted here on the Court’s website, Paul Jones highlights Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s efforts to begin to rebuild the judicial branch after years of devastating budget cuts. The Chief’s plan, dubbed “Access 3D,” is “a three-pronged push to increase access to courthouses, improve online services, and aggressively expand diversity initiatives, especially language assistance.” Key components of the plan include providing more interpreters in non-criminal matters, improving remote access to courts (including online case filing and video appearances), and the re-opening, improvement and replacement of brick-and-mortar court facilities. The plan is contingent, of course, on the judicial branch continuing to receive increases in fund (it received an additional $63 million this summer). But the Chief’s plan takes fiscal uncertainty into account. Jones quotes her as saying “‘We have to be prepared and flexible enough . . . that if we need to scale back immediately, we can.’”