Chief Justice Harold Melton, Supreme Court of Georgia. (Photo: John Disney/ALM)

Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Harold Melton plans to discuss expanding access to justice and tightening electronic security in the annual State of the Judiciary address to a joint session of the General Assembly Wednesday.

The address is planned for 11 a.m. in the House of Representatives chamber, the court announced Monday.

The chief justice uses the annual speech to update the legislative branch on highlights and challenges for the court. This will be Melton's second one.

Melton is to talk about new ideas for improving access to justice and cybersecurity, the announcement said. In particular, he will address what needs to be done to safeguard the judicial branch from security breaches such as the ransomware attack last summer on the Administrative Office of the Courts. Melton also plans to applaud Gov. Brian Kemp for creating a behavioral health commission that, among other things, will identify ways mental health issues lead people into the criminal justice system.

The speech will include remarks on the move of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals this year into the new Nathan Deal Judicial Center. Melton plans to reflect on changes since 1956, when the Supreme Court held its first session in the old building on Mitchell Street.

"We are a different court now than when our court first convened in the building we have left behind," Melton will say, according to the court's preview of his speech. "We are a different state."

Last year, Melton paid tribute to his predecessor, friend and mentor, the late Chief Justice P. Harris Hines. The much younger chief highlighted advances in technology—showing the lawmakers video illustrating the new statewide courts portal, as well as a unique program putting lawyers in a struggling school to assist families with tenant rights issues and other matters that have helped give children stability. He also spoke about the state's bipartisan criminal justice reform movement—authorized with near-unanimous support from the General Assembly.

"Through these efforts, we have made our state safer with reduced recidivism rates, saved taxpayer dollars with reduced prison populations and made our communities stronger by giving nonviolent offenders the chance to turn their lives around and become law-abiding and more productive family members and members of the community," Melton said last year.

Wednesday's speech will be livestreamed on Georgia Public Broadcasting.