Battle for California Courts Budget Begins in San Francisco

California Governor Jerry Brown's recently proposed $200 million cut to the California Judicial Branch's budget has sparked a volley of debate between Sacramento and San Francisco.

In a report featured in an article in The Recorder, The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) of California states that not only could the California Judiciary absorb the proposed $200 million in cuts, but it could raise the bar (no pun intended) by shaving $356 million looking at trial courts' reserves and a major construction fund.

The report also says $60 million could be cut from 13 trial courts it has labelled "overfunded," which include San Francisco, San Mateo, San Diego and others.

"There have been a lot of courts that have been operating with less funding and managed to get through," said Drew Soderborg, a senior analyst at the LAO, to The Recorder.

As you can imagine, this news was less than warmly received by the San Francisco Superior Court. Its response was closer to pop star Pink's current catch phrase "What's the dealio?"

Last week, the Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, issued a press release titled "San Francisco Superior Court Disputes Conclusions of the LAO Budget Report." In the press release, Presiding Judge Katherine Feinstein and Court Executive Officer T. Michael Yuen state that the proposed budget cuts would force the Court to lay off half of its employees. They note that the "flawed workload analysis in the report" would force the layoffs of 250 employees.

"This Court has absorbed cuts in the past two years of $13.2 million and we have 100 fewer employees than we did in 2009 when a hiring freeze took effect," said Mr. Yuen. "There is no way this Court can survive a $22.75 million funding reduction in one year without dismantling our entire operation." Judge Feinstein notes "Our Court is unique in important aspects that were not accounted for in this study."

So, as we watch the line grow at the court filing window and receive notices of reduced court hours at some California courts, the stage is set for some very robust debate. Is there any fat left to trim in the state's court system and, if so, how much? From our vantage point from the line, we don't see a lot of excess in the courts. They are already addressing increasing volume with less staff.