The Office of Communications and Intergovernmental Relations represents the AOPC before the state's executive and legislative branches of government and the media.
As media liaison, staff field inquiries from reporters, draft press releases, publish the AOPC annual report, develop other publications and set up press conferences. The office also monitors the progress of legislation in the General Assembly; compiles and publishes a legislative summary when the General Assembly is in session; and, when appropriate, comments on the effect legislation may have on the fiscal and administrative operations of the judicial system. Staff also monitor and report on legislation that may require changes to the software programs relevant to those courts.
Pennsylvania’s judiciary has won national honors for a second consecutive year for developing creative ways to improve court operations.
Challenged by limited staffing, cash-strapped budgets and Pennsylvania’s vast geography, the AOPC increasingly is turning to online tools to provide new information and training to the state court system’s hundreds of employees and jurists.
AOPC is handling audio-visual needs for the judicial center and AOPC offices in Mechanicsburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh through a new two-person team.