The Los Angeles Superior Court faces a $79 million budget deficit this year, which is expected to reach $140 million by the 2011-12 fiscal year.
Los Angeles County Superior Court recently laid off 329 staff members. By the end of this fiscal year on June 30, a total of 485 positions will be lost, some through attrition. An additional 500 employees will be laid off in September and 530 in fall 2011.
The Judicial Council of California has said, “The cuts will require an unacceptable reduction in access to justice for the public. There will not be sufficient resources to address all the criminal, family, and business matters that come to the courts.”
Four Los Angeles AFSCME court employees testified before Assembly Budget Committee #4 on May 12, relating some of the devastating impact of the cutbacks on the public they have witnessed first hand.
“I work in a civil courtroom,” said court clerk Gwendolyn Jones, President of Local 575, “and I see what happens when the public doesn’t get their cases resolved in a timely manner – cases ranging from breach of contract to personal injury to property damage. Our case loads have doubled. People suffer. Sick or injured people depending on the courts for help will face potentially life-threatening delays in treatment, not to mention the enormous physical stress if more courtrooms close.”
Hello. My name is Karen Norwood. I am president of AFSCME Local 3302, representing over 500 court employees in LA County.
I am here today to briefly discuss the critical shortages of funding for the courts throughout the state, but particularly in LA County courts, which is the largest court system in the COUNTRY.
Daily Journal, May 18, 2010
Michelle Oyler received a late night call from a social worker in March. One of her foster children had gone missing. In the past she would have called her CASA supervisor at the Superior Courts for guidance. But her supervisor was one of 329 court employees who had been laid off earlier that month.
Courthouse News Service, May 18, 2010
In defiance of an order from the state's judicial authority, the presiding judge for Sacramento Superior Court is going ahead with plans to host the court's case information on its own server rather than a problematic out-of-state server run by the central judicial authority. "I will not be held hostage to this policy," said Sacramento Presiding Judge Steven White. "We haven't slowed down at all with our plans."
Metropolitan News-Enterprise, May 18, 2010
A partial solution to the Los Angeles Superior Court’s funding crisis may be at hand, Los Angeles Superior Court Presiding Judge Charles “Tim” McCoy Jr. said yesterday in an e-mail to members of the court. “Significant progress has recently been made in Sacramento towards a multiyear...solution” to the court’s financial woes.
San Gabriel Tribune Op Ed, May 15, 2010
How does the state reward a manager for coming up with a way to help close a devastating deficit and avoid 500 layoffs?
By shooting down his idea. We're talking about the crisis in our courts. When Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charles "Tim" McCoy asked the California Judicial Council, and the group it oversees, the Administrative Office of the Courts, if it could transfer $47 million from a fund set aside for building new courthouses to help run existing ones, the AOC said "no."
Courthouse News Service, May 14, 2010
In Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newest proposed budget, released on Friday, he included $3.43 billion for the courts, slightly more than requested. However, everything is still in flux until a final budget is voted on later this year. The court budget does not address the ongoing controversy over the use of those funds, a discussion that could end up in the Legislature. "We are still dealing with a $20 billion statewide budget shortfall, and there are many competing interests," said Les Spahnn, legislative budget consultant to Assemblyman Warren Furutani.
NPR Radio, May 13, 2010
As part of California's budget balancing efforts, the state's courts have been closed the third Monday of each month. Because of overcrowding and understaffing, some people may have to wait for months, even years, for a court date.
