Courts Budget

Train, Not Courts, Wins In State Budget

June 16, 2014 By CCM Staff

So, maybe people can find a way to take the bullet train to far-flung courts? The California budget approved this week grants hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, but the courts have fallen well short of their requests. The Los Angeles Times report included this: “The new trial court budget is simply insufficient for those who need access to a courthouse,” Contra Costa County Presiding Superior Court Judge Barry Goode said. “Crime victims, law enforcement, those suffering from domestic violence, families in trouble and other court users will continue to have to travel long distances and endure long waits for justice.”

Read the Times report here: California bullet train deal: Hundreds of millions of dollars

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: California, California Budget, california court cuts, california courts, California State Budget, California Trains, Gov. Jerry Brown, train

Budget Deadline Punts On Court Funding

June 13, 2014 By CCM Staff

How to handle an election-year funding issue involving the labor-intensive courts system? First, expand it to a “two-year” plan to avoid the hard questions in the election cycle and then tie any increases to “reforms” to be identified later. As this weekend’s constitutionally mandated June 15 California budget deadline expires, that’s the status of hard-hit courts in Gov. Brown’s budget. Not always noted is that one of the ways to “tighten operating costs” is increasing the amount workers pay into their pension funds.

The Courthouse News is a go-to source for following the issue, especially with the focus on Los Angeles, home of the nation’s largest trial court where cutbacks have closed courthouses and forced long journeys to court.

For this years budget, The Courthouse News reports that “… Department of Finance Director Michael Cohen said the $160 million for the courts is part of a two-year strategy to stabilize court funding while the Judicial Council and the chief justice look for ways to tighten operating costs. Most of the additional funds will go toward paying court-employee pensions and benefits and backfilling a shortfall in filing-fee revenue.”

Follow the issue here.

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: california courts, court funding, judicial council

Secret Deals May Mean More Court Money

June 11, 2014 By CCM Staff

They are the most important decisions being made for people of California, so of course the negotiations are going on in secret – but the “leaks” are that courts are about to get a “modest” increase over previous drafts of Gov. Brown’s proposal, according to published news report.

The Contra Costa Times reports that this year’s deal-making is going nicely, saying that “… the knockdown, drag-out partisan fights, stretching on for months, are history. These days, state budget negotiations are downright cordial.” And the paper adds that “… according to Capitol sources briefed on closed-door budget negotiations, the administration of Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic lawmakers have quietly reached deals on funding prekindergarten, pumping more money into the state’s beleaguered court system and funding levels for the state’s controversial bullet train.”

On courts, the report also says that “… after proposing a $160 million increase in spending for California’s courts, Brown has reportedly agreed to another modest bump in funding for the judicial system, whose budget was hit hard at the height of the state’s financial crisis.”

Read the report here.

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: budget, California, california courts, court budget, Gov. Jerry Brown

Divorce Delay? Not If You Can Pay For Private!

June 10, 2014 By CCM Staff

Years of judicial branch budget cuts have delayed civil trials, and divorce cases have been hard-hit as family law judges focus on domestic violence orders and other priorities. While state lawmakers have been slow to react, it seems the free market is making a move: a growing trend is to have “private trials,” and it’s apparently catching on across the country.

The Tulsa World newspaper is reporting that “California-based trial consulting firm Decision Analysis has been suggesting clients use a private trial for a long time, but the procedure is just starting to gain popularity, firm president Richard Gabriel said.” He said that “I think people are starting to consider it more and more because state court budgets across the country have been severely slashed,” adding that the cuts mean fewer court staff, increasing the length of time and money it takes for cases to be completed in the public courts system.

Other advantages if you can afford to pay for judges, and sometimes juries and other costs: Private trials also provide the privacy that mediation and arbitration do. Petition for divorce and decree of divorce is public record, but unless somebody appeals to the actual court system, the conclusions of law then those specifics are confidential.

Despite all that, some studies suggest that you might actually save money because “… complicated civil cases often come out ahead financially because private trials are much quicker.” Read the story here.

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: Civil Courts, court cuts, Decision Analysis, family law, Justice Rationing, Legal news, private courts, private trials

Courts Monitor Writer On Vets’ Asbestos Issue

June 5, 2014 By CCM Staff

On the Huffington Post’s national political page today, Sara Warner, publisher of the California Courts Monitor, argues that Democrats are being tone deaf when it comes to the role that veterans play in asbestos bankruptcy trust issues.

You can find her comments here: Dems Tone-Deaf on Veterans’ Asbestos Issue

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: asbestos, Courts, garlock, Legal news, mesothelioma, perjury, veterans

Train, Not Courts, Lead Budget Talks

June 4, 2014 By CCM Staff

With the June 15 state budget deadline nearing, spending talks are apparently focused – not on replacing lost court funding – but on Gov. Jerry Brown’s plans for the $68 billion-with-a-b bullet train from Los Angeles to the Bay Area, according to the Los Angeles Times and other sources.

Writes the LAT: “… the governor faces another challenge as he tries to secure new funding from pollution fees to keep the project rolling. His effort is emerging as one of the most hotly contested elements of this year’s budget, providing leverage to Democratic lawmakers who have their own eyes on the money.”

You can keep up with the negotiations, but don’t expect any court funding updates, here: Bullet train funding is bargaining chip in state budget debate

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: California, California Budget, california court cuts, california courts, California Rail, California State Budget, California Trains, Gov. Jerry Brown, high speed rail, train

Still Undecided? LAT Endorsements

June 3, 2014 By CCM Staff

Still undecided on today’s judicial election vote? For what it’s worth, here are the Los Angeles Times endorsements:

Office 22: Pamala Matsumoto

Office 48: Charles M. Calderon

Office 54: Debra L. Losnick

Office 61: Jacqueline Lewis

Office 76: Alison Matsumoto Estrada

Office 87: Andrew M. Stein

Office 97: Songhai “Sunny” Armstead

Office 107: Emma Castro

Office 113: Stacy Wiese

Office 117: James B. Pierce

Office 138: Donna Hollingsworth Armstrong

Office 157: Andrew Cooper

You can see more of the Times recommendations here: June 3 primary election: The Times recommends

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: california courts, Courts, elections, endorsements, judicial elections, LA Times, Los Angeles

State Chamber President Backs Court Funding

May 30, 2014 By CCM Staff

Allan Zaremberg is president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce. Photo from Sacramento Bee report of 5/22/14.

The president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce has added a business voice to the call for a fully funded court system, calling courts “vital” to the state’s economy and a key part of innovation and job creation. In an opinion piece published in The Sacramento Bee, Allan Zaremberg first notes the funding needs in education and health care then adds “… not so obvious, however, is an appropriate level of funding for California’s courts, a cornerstone of our constitution and democracy.”

The support is, of course, part of gathering pro-court voices in advance of the June 15 California budget deadline. Along with setting out key talking points, it also reminds lawmakers that business interests have a stake in how courts function. Read the comments here.

Filed Under: Courts Budget, Uncategorized Tagged With: California Budget, california chamber of commerce, california court cuts, california courts, Legal news

Court Funds Tied To Worker-Pension Increases

May 28, 2014 By CCM Staff

Photo: gov.ca.gov.com

In case anyone needed the top budget issue explained, reporter Katie Orr at Capital Public Radio makes it clear: “At the most basic level, California’s budget allocates money to state programs for the year. But Gov. Jerry Brown also wants to use it to push his agenda.” She notes that “… Brown is proposing a funding increase of $160 million for the trial courts this year, but wants court employees to contribute more to their pensions.”

Other experts equate tying funds to pension contributions is like using federal money to increase the age for legal consumption of alcohol and other issues. She does not include an immediate response from labor or employees who might think it odd to tie their pensions to keeping courts open.

The story is here: Gov. Brown Links Budget Dollars To Department Reforms

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: California, California Budget, california courts, court budget, Gov. Jerry Brown, pension, SEIU, state budget, union

NYT Shines Light On Civil Detainee Labor

May 27, 2014 By CCM Staff

The New York Times has published a detailed report on how civil immigration detainees are being used for cheap or free labor in the facilities where they are being held, benefiting not only government agencies but for-profit companies that operate in the facilities. California is one of the states with multiple detention centers, and the report notes that “… near San Francisco, at the Contra Costa West County Detention Facility, immigrants work alongside criminal inmates to cook about 900 meals a day that are packaged and trucked to a county homeless shelter and nearby jails.”

The NYT notes that the federal government has become the largest employer of potentially illegal immigrants: “Last year, at least 60,000 immigrants worked in the federal government’s nationwide patchwork of detention centers — more than worked for any other single employer in the country, according to data from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE. The cheap labor, 13 cents an hour, saves the government and the private companies $40 million or more a year by allowing them to avoid paying outside contractors the $7.25 federal minimum wage. Some immigrants held at county jails work for free, or are paid with sodas or candy bars, while also providing services like meal preparation for other government institutions.”

The report includes the government response of “… the federal authorities say the program is voluntary, legal and a cost-saver for taxpayers. But immigrant advocates question whether it is truly voluntary or lawful, and argue that the government and the private prison companies that run many of the detention centers are bending the rules to convert a captive population into a self-contained labor force.”

This is the kind of story that might illustrate the difference in rights people have in criminal vs. civil cases – it is hard to imagine people being held in de facto labor camps if they faced criminal charges, because a different set of rights kicks in. Read the NYT game-changing story here: Using Jailed Migrants as a Pool of Cheap Labor

Filed Under: Community, Courts Budget Tagged With: California, cheap labor, Civil Courts, criminal courts, detainees, ICE, illegal immigrants, immigrant rights, immigration, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, labor costs, migrant workers, slave labor, undocumented workers