It has seen funding difficulties, increasing caseloads and the occasional bad pun from a reporter.

The Supreme Court released its seventh-annual Report of the Nevada Judiciary this month, outlining the state of the judiciary. In a 70-plus page document, it outlines what has changed in recent years and what innovations are being implemented to cope with those changes in the years to come.

Among the less surprising facts contained in the report is that the number of cases being filed in Nevada is increasing. For the first time since the courts began collecting data, more civil cases were filed in Nevada than criminal cases. The civil caseload in 2006 was 155,089 while the criminal caseload decreased to 153,478 cases.

The Nevada Supreme Court had a total of 2,086 filings in 2006, a 3 percent increase over the prior year. The Eighth Judicial District Court, which encompasses Clark County, had more than 83,000 cases filed, an average of 2,523 cases filed per judge.

The Las Vegas Municipal Court was the busiest municipal court for the first time in several years with 5,277 cases filed per judge. North Las Vegas Municipal Court, which had traditionally been the busiest, added a second judge during fiscal year 2006 and dropped to second place with 3,883 cases per judge.

The busiest justice court in 2006 was the Las Vegas Justice Court, with 14,099 cases filed per judge. The Reno Justice Court came in a distant second with 4,758 cases per judge.

Funding: The overall cost of operating the Nevada Judicial System is about $200 million. Most of that is provided and administered by local governments. But $34 million of that comes from the state and about $18.7 million comes from the General Fund. The rest of the money comes from administrative assessments, filing fees, grants, peremptory challenge fees and miscellaneous user fees, according to the annual report.

"Funding Nevada's Courts has been a challenge that has become more critical as rapid growth in the state's urban centers and limited resources in some rural areas has strained resources," the report stated. "Nevada's courts have been funded in much the same way that they were when Nevada became a state in 1864."

In 2004 the Nevada Supreme Court created the Commission on Court Funding to examine the judiciary's funding and expenditures. The Commission is expected to release the findings of that examination in a report later this year.

Grants: With court funding being stretched to its limits, the Nevada judicial system depends on federal and local grants to fund its pet projects. 2006 grant programs include:

Judicial Council: In 2006 the Judicial Council, which helps the Supreme Court fulfill its administrative duties, established three new standing committees: the Certified Interpreters Advisory Committee, the Specialty Court Funding Committee and the Court Improvement Project Committee.

It also created standardized harassment and stalking orders to be used throughout the state for a voluntary six month trial period. The change implements new uniform forms that can be quickly and easily recognized by all agencies.

In 2006 the Supreme Court also created a Bench-Bar Committee to provide the justices with input from attorneys about the operation of the justice system. It also acts as a sounding board on changes that may be proposed to improve the courts. The committee includes seven Supreme Court justices and 29 attorneys and an ex-officio member from the law faculty at the National Judicial College and the Boyd School of Law.

Innovations: Time is money. The courts understand that and are implementing new programs to make their money work harder.

The Eighth Judicial District Court and the Las Vegas Justice Court, both housed in the Regional Justice Center, consolidated their administrative functions in 2006 to eliminate duplicated services by sharing resources.

The Eighth Judicial Court launched a jury management program called eJuror in 2006 that allows residents to quickly confirm or reschedule their jury service via the Internet. It also allows them to print out a jury service attendance letter to submit to their employers and complete basic questionnaires to give lawyers and judges an idea of who will be reporting for jury duty. The previous call-in method cost the courts an average of $3 per phone call, the eJuror system costs about 3 cents.

It also created a program that schedules day-long status checks on more than 300 medical malpractice lawsuits pending in the system. The program fast-tracks cases for settlement and provides firm dates for cases that cannot be settled.

The Las Vegas Municipal Court streamlined its front counter operations at the Regional Justice Center, cutting the wait time from 16 minutes in 2004 to 5 minutes in 2006. Much of this increased efficiency is attributed to a new pay-by-phone option for traffic tickets and other fines.

Court interpreters: As the immigrant population of Nevada grows, the court system faces an increasing need for certified translators to ensure everyone understands the court proceedings. In some areas of the state, court employees and bilingual residents have been relied upon to interpret court proceedings. The annual report says that this presents a concern about whether or not the court sessions are properly translated.

To meet the growing need, the courts have launched an ambitious campaign to recruit and train qualified bilingual residents to become certified court interpreters. In 2006 the Administrative Office of the Courts renewed certificates of 15 certified interpreters and certified 27 new interpreters in Nevada.

Speciality courts: Five new speciality courts were authorized in 2006, bringing the total to 30. The specialty Courts are funded through a $7 assessment on misdemeanor and traffic convictions in Justice and Municipal Courts as well as funding from bail forfeitures, local communities, municipalities and private sources.

In 2006, the Las Vegas Municipal Court completed the first full year of its H.O.P.E. (Habitual Offender Prevention and Education) Court. The program is a public-private partnership to provide care and case management for chronic inebriates who repeatedly commit minor crimes.

Court facilities: The court facilities in Nevada are bursting at the seams, despite the completion of new facilities throughout the state in 2006. Further steps will likely be necessary in the next few years. The projects completed in 2006 include:

Technology: Several courts in the Nevada judicial system decreased their workloads, increased productivity and made the court system more accessible to the general public through the use of technology. The Nevada courts are moving into the 21st century with improved Web sites and software.

The Nevada Offense Code (NOC) or criminal charge table was updated in 2006 to create a uniform code throughout the state. Prior to this change there were more than 14,000 codes used by different agencies to identify the same 4,000 crimes. The new model uses 11 alpha/numerical codes, which all criminal justice agencies have agreed to use. In 2007 the NOC Project will determine how to implement the new system.

Other changes include:

For more information on the Annual Report of the Nevada Judiciary, look it up online at www.nvsupremecourt.us.