Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 377-H.F.No. 1622 
           An act relating to courts; providing court of appeals 
          and crime victim representation on the sentencing 
          guidelines commission; providing that terms of 
          commission members appointed by the governor are 
          coterminous with the governor; changing the date on 
          which the commission's report to the legislature is 
          due; clarifying the membership on judicial appeal 
          panels; permitting retired judges to solemnize 
          marriages; clarifying judicial representation on the 
          judicial standards board; authorizing the supreme 
          court to adopt court rules; restricting mileage 
          reimbursement for law clerks; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1986, sections 244.09, subdivisions 2, 3, and 
          11; 253B.19, subdivision 1; 480.051; 481.02, 
          subdivision 3; 484.545, subdivision 3; 484.62; 490.15, 
          subdivision 1; 517.04; and 525.06.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 244.09, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 2.  The sentencing guidelines commission shall 
consist of the following: 
    (1) The chief justice of the supreme court or a designee; 
    (2) One judge of the court of appeals, appointed by the 
chief justice of the supreme court;  
     (3) Two district court judges appointed by the chief 
justice of the supreme court; 
    (3) (4) One public defender appointed by the governor upon 
recommendation of the state public defender; 
    (4) (5) One county attorney appointed by the governor upon 
recommendation of the board of governors of the county attorneys 
council; 
    (5) (6) The commissioner of corrections or a designee; 
    (6) The chair of the board of supervised release or a 
designee; 
    (7) One peace officer as defined in section 626.84 
appointed by the governor;  
    (8) One probation officer or parole officer appointed by 
the governor; and 
    (9) Two public members appointed by the governor, one of 
whom shall be a victim of a crime defined as a felony. 
    One of the members shall be designated by the governor as 
chair of the commission. 
     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 244.09, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  Each appointed member shall be appointed for four 
years and shall continue to serve during that time as long as 
the member occupies the position which made the member eligible 
for the appointment.  Each member shall continue in office until 
a successor is duly appointed.  Members shall be eligible for 
reappointment, and appointment may be made to fill an unexpired 
term.  The term of any member appointed or reappointed by the 
governor before the first Monday in January 1991 expires on that 
date.  The term of any member appointed or reappointed by the 
governor after the first Monday in January 1991 is coterminous 
with the governor.  The members of the commission shall elect 
any additional officers necessary for the efficient discharge of 
their duties. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 244.09, 
subdivision 11, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 11.  [MODIFICATION.] The commission shall meet as 
necessary for the purpose of modifying and improving the 
guidelines.  Any modification which amends the sentencing 
guidelines grid, including severity levels and criminal history 
scores, or which would result in the reduction of any sentence 
or in the early release of any inmate, with the exception of a 
modification mandated or authorized by the legislature or 
relating to a crime created or amended by the legislature in the 
preceding session, shall be submitted to the legislature by 
January 1 of any year in which the commission wishes to make the 
change and shall be effective on August 1 of that year, unless 
the legislature by law provides otherwise.  All other 
modifications shall take effect according to the procedural 
rules of the commission.  On or before November January 1 of 
each year, the commission shall submit a written report to the 
judiciary committees of the senate and the house of 
representatives that identifies and explains all modifications 
made during the preceding 12 months and all proposed 
modifications that will be are being submitted to the 
legislature on January 1 that year. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 253B.19, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
    Subdivision 1.  [CREATION.] The supreme court shall 
establish an appeal panel composed of three probate judges and 
two four alternate probate judges appointed from among the 
acting probate judges of the state.  Panel members shall serve 
for terms of one year each.  Only three judges need hear any 
case.  One of the regular three appointed judges shall be 
designated as the chief judge of the appeal panel.  The chief 
judge is vested with power to fix the time and place of all 
hearings before the panel, issue all notices, subpoena 
witnesses, appoint counsel for the patient, if necessary, and 
supervise and direct the operation of the appeal panel.  The 
chief judge shall designate one of the other judges or an 
alternate judge to act as chief judge in any case where the 
chief judge is unable to act.  No member of the appeal panel 
shall take part in the consideration of any case in which that 
judge committed the patient.  The chief justice of the supreme 
court shall determine the compensation of the judges serving on 
the appeal panel.  The compensation shall be in addition to 
their regular compensation as probate judges.  All compensation 
and expenses of the appeal panel and all allowable fees and 
costs of the patient's counsel shall be paid by the department 
of human services.  
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 480.051, is 
amended to read:  
    480.051 [REGULATE PLEADING, PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE.] 
    The supreme court of this state shall have the power to 
regulate the pleadings, practice, procedure, and the forms 
thereof in civil actions in all courts of this state, other than 
including the probate courts, by rules promulgated by it from 
time to time.  Such rules shall not abridge, enlarge, or modify 
the substantive rights of any litigant.  
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 481.02, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3.  [PERMITTED ACTIONS.] The provisions of this 
section shall not prohibit:  
    (1) any person from drawing, without charge, any document 
to which the person, an employer of the person, a firm of which 
the person is a member, or a corporation whose officer or 
employee the person is, is a party, except another's will or 
testamentary disposition or instrument of trust serving purposes 
similar to those of a will; 
    (2) a person from drawing a will for another in an 
emergency if the imminence of death leaves insufficient time to 
have it drawn and its execution supervised by a licensed 
attorney at law; 
    (3) any one, acting as broker for the parties or agent of 
one of the parties to a sale or trade or lease of property or to 
a loan, from drawing or assisting in drawing, with or without 
charge, papers incident to the sale, trade, lease, or loan; 
    (4) any insurance company from causing to be defended, or 
from offering to cause to be defended through lawyers of its 
selection, the insureds in policies issued or to be issued by 
it, in accordance with the terms of the policies; 
    (5) a licensed attorney at law from acting for several 
common-carrier corporations or any of its subsidiaries pursuant 
to arrangement between the corporations; 
    (6) any bona fide labor organization from giving legal 
advice to its members in matters arising out of their employment;
    (7) any person from conferring or cooperating with a 
licensed attorney at law of another in preparing any legal 
document, if the attorney is not, directly or indirectly, in the 
employ of the person or of any person, firm, or corporation 
represented by the person; 
      (8) any licensed attorney at law of Minnesota, who is an 
officer or employee of a corporation, from drawing, for or 
without compensation, any document to which the corporation is a 
party or in which it is interested personally or in a 
representative capacity, except wills or testamentary 
dispositions or instruments of trust serving purposes similar to 
those of a will, but any charge made for the legal work 
connected with preparing and drawing the document shall not 
exceed the amount paid to and received and retained by the 
attorney, and the attorney shall not, directly or indirectly, 
rebate the fee to or divide the fee with the corporation; 
      (9) any person or corporation from drawing, for or without 
a fee, farm or house leases, notes, mortgages, chattel 
mortgages, bills of sale, deeds, assignments, satisfactions or 
any other conveyances except testamentary dispositions and 
instruments of trust; 
      (10) a licensed attorney at law of Minnesota from rendering 
to a corporation legal services to itself at the expense of one 
or more of its bona fide principal stockholders by whom the 
attorney is employed and by whom no compensation is, directly or 
indirectly, received for the services; 
      (11) any person or corporation engaged in the business of 
making collections from engaging or turning over to an attorney 
at law for the purpose of instituting and conducting suit or 
making proof of claim of a creditor in any case in which the 
attorney at law receives the entire compensation for the work; 
      (12) any regularly established farm journal or newspaper, 
devoted to general news, from publishing a department of legal 
questions and answers to them, made by a licensed attorney at 
law, if no answer is accompanied or at any time preceded or 
followed by any charge for it, any disclosure of any name of the 
maker of any answer, any recommendation of or reference to any 
one to furnish legal advice or services, or by any legal advice 
or service for the periodical or any one connected with it or 
suggested by it, directly or indirectly;  
     (13) any authorized management agent of an owner of rental 
property used for residential purposes, whether the management 
agent is a natural person, corporation, partnership, limited 
partnership, or any other business entity, from commencing, 
maintaining, conducting, or defending in its own behalf any 
action in any court in this state to recover or retain 
possession of the property, except that the provision of this 
clause does not authorize a person who is not a licensed 
attorney at law to conduct a jury trial or to appear before a 
district court or the court of appeals or supreme court pursuant 
to an appeal; and 
    (14) any person from commencing, maintaining, conducting, 
or defending on behalf of the plaintiff or defendant any action 
in any county or municipal court of this state pursuant to the 
provisions of section 566.175 or sections 566.18 to 566.33 or 
from commencing, maintaining, conducting, or defending on behalf 
of the plaintiff or defendant any action in any county or county 
municipal court of this state for the recovery of rental 
property used for residential purposes pursuant to the 
provisions of sections 566.02 or 566.03, subdivision 1, except 
that the provision of this clause does not authorize a person 
who is not a licensed attorney at law to conduct a jury trial or 
to appear before a district court or the court of appeals or 
supreme court pursuant to an appeal, and provided that, except 
for a nonprofit corporation, a person who is not a licensed 
attorney at law shall not charge or collect a separate fee for 
services rendered pursuant to this clause. 
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 484.545, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  The law clerks, in addition to their salary, 
shall be paid necessary mileage, traveling and hotel expenses 
accrued in their discharge of official duties while absent 
from home their permanent work assignment location.  The county 
auditor of the county for which the expenses were incurred, upon 
presentation of a verified statement approved by one of the 
judges, shall issue a warrant in payment thereof. 
    Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 484.62, is 
amended to read:  
    484.62 [COMPENSATION AND REPORTER.] 
    When a retired judge undertakes such service, the retired 
judge shall be provided at the expense of the county of 
performance of the service with a reporter, selected by the 
retired judge, clerk, bailiff, if the judge deems a bailiff 
necessary, and a courtroom or hearing room for the purpose of 
holding court or hearings, to be paid for by the county in which 
the service is rendered and shall receive pay and expenses in 
the amount and manner provided by law for judges serving on the 
court to which the retired judge is assigned, less the amount of 
retirement pay which the judge is receiving, said payment to be 
made in the same manner as the payment of salaries for judges of 
the district court, on certification by the chief judge of the 
judicial district or by the chief justice of the supreme court 
of the state of Minnesota.  A deputy court administrator may act 
as bailiff when called to do so for the purposes of this 
section.  A retired judge who solemnizes a marriage while not 
assigned under section 484.61 is not entitled to the 
compensation provided by this section. 
    Sec. 9.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 490.15, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
    Subdivision 1.  The board on judicial standards is 
established and consists of one judge of the court of 
appeals, one judge of the district court, one judge of a 
municipal court, one judge of county court, three trial court 
judges, two lawyers who have practiced law in the state for ten 
years and four citizens who are not judges, retired judges or 
lawyers.  The executive secretary is appointed by the governor.  
Commencing July 1, 1980, the board shall appoint the executive 
secretary.  All members shall be appointed by the governor with 
the advice and consent of the senate except that senate 
confirmation shall not be required for the judicial members.  No 
member shall serve more than two full four-year terms or their 
equivalent.  Membership terminates if a member ceases to hold 
the position that qualified the member for appointment. 
    Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 517.04, is 
amended to read:  
    517.04 [SOLEMNIZATION.] 
    Marriages may be solemnized throughout the state by a judge 
of a court of record, a retired judge of a court of record, a 
court administrator, a former court commissioner so long as 
employed by the court system, the residential school 
administrators of the Minnesota school for the deaf and the 
Minnesota braille and sight-saving school, a licensed or 
ordained minister of any religious denomination, or by any mode 
recognized in section 517.18. 
    Sec. 11.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 525.06, is 
amended to read:  
    525.06 [ANNUAL ASSEMBLAGE; RULES.] 
    The judges of the probate courts shall assemble each year 
at such places and times as may be designated by the probate 
judges' according to rule governing their meetings, and any 30 
of them shall constitute a quorum, except where rules are 
adopted, revised, or amended, the quorum shall be 44.  When so 
assembled such judges shall formulate and adopt rules and make 
such revision and amendment thereof as they may deem expedient 
conformably to law, and the same shall take effect from and 
after the publication thereof as directed by them.  Such rules 
shall govern all the probate courts of this state, but, in 
furtherance of justice, the court may relax or modify them or 
relieve a party from the effect thereof on such terms as may be 
just.  The reasonable expenses of the judges attending such 
meetings shall be paid by their respective counties. 
    Approved June 2, 1987