New Jersey's municipal courts—the state's busiest court system—have begun remote proceedings by video or phone this week, a judiciary notice announced Monday.

An omnibus order issued April 24 provided for municipal court sessions to begin Monday with appropriate notice to parties. Remote proceedings already were allowed in municipal courts with all parties' consent as of April 27 under that omnibus order.

The judiciary also has provided for defendants to pay fines online and enter a plea by mail, Monday's announcement said.

"Municipal courts are vital to our state's justice system," Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner said in a release Monday. "This is another step in expanding virtual proceedings to allow court business to continue, safely, wherever possible."

The state's 515 municipal courts handle approximately 6 million cases a year, the announcement said. But since mid-March, in-person municipal court sessions have been suspended amid the coronavirus, coinciding with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy's statewide efforts to do the same by closing down all nonessential businesses and encouraging those who can to work from home. Since that time, only "certain court matters, such as those involving public safety, have been allowed to proceed in the last two months," the announcement noted.

The omnibus order provided for all municipal court sessions resuming on May 11 "to the extent possible, based on facilities, technology and other resources."

The announcement cited as an example municipal courts in Jersey City, where "court users can download a form on the municipal website to register for court," and "court administrators schedule the cases, and defendants receive an email with instructions on how to participate virtually."

Since the form was made public last week, 90 defendants registered to schedule their cases, said Jersey City Chief Municipal Judge Carlo Abad, who developed a training video for municipal court judges. The court is scheduled to hear 15 of those cases remotely through Zoom and Microsoft Teams this week, according to Abad, who is quoted in the announcement.

"It's being well received by the other judges and the prosecutors," Abad said in a statement.

Defendants also can begin to access NJMCdirect.com, the municipal court online payment system, to resolve motor vehicle violations, disorderly persons offenses, and other ordinance violations where the defendant has been placed on a time payment plan. And they can enter a plea by mail as of Monday, the announcement said.