Lines Being Drawn As Courts Budget Deadline Nears

 
That loud grinding sound you hear from the north is the legislature crunching numbers, and it looks like “100 million” is a key figure for the final weeks of California’s budget battles. The legislature is proposing restoring $100 million to the judicial budget, earmarking most of that for trial courts and screaming for increased accountability from the Administrative Office of the Courts.
 
Los Angeles County workers have been stepping up in the controversy, and one Alameda court employee had comments that got quoted around the Internet, including in The Courthouse News budget coverage. The CN reported that “… Cheryl Clark, an Alameda court worker who drew some of loudest cheers, said, “Where has all this money gone? Why do we have to close at 2:30 [p.m.]? I’m with everyone else–accountability for the AOC. But if they’re not going to be accountable, give the money to the trial courts and let us be responsible for us. We can bypass all of that… the money is well needed [and] … if they’re not going to account for the money, it needs to be taken away from them and let the courts take care of it–each court equally.”
 
The Courthouse News offered a summary of the ongoing budget context: “The court workers’ comments were not lost on the lawmakers, who for years have been listening to allegations of misspending and waste, while local trial courts, starved for funds, have been shuttering courthouses and laying off staff.”
 
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