Court funding - a good first step.

• Author: White, John G., III
• Position: Florida - President's page

As legislators gather in Tallahassee for the start of the regular session on March 3, I am somewhat relieved the court budget will be on firmer foundation and a bit better protected from the ups and downs of the economy than it was this time last year.

That's because lawmakers raised traffic fines and fees to be deposited in three newly created trust funds for the courts, state attorneys, and public defenders, during the emergency special session in January called to plug a gaping $2.3 billion hole in the state budget.

Instead of an additional four percent cut to the courts, state attorneys, and public defenders, the further cuts were bought down to 1.25 percent with the addition of the $15.9 million the extra fees and fines are expected to generate this year. It's anticipated in fiscal year 2009-10, those fines and fees will raise $63.1 million.

As Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, chair of the Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee said, "The courts will remain open without firings and furloughs."

In what he called "significant reform," the legislature "is laying the foundation for a sustainable long-range funding source for the courts, public defenders, and state attorneys."

During the committee's meeting in January, Crist looked out at judges, lawyers, and lobbyists in the audience and said, "For once, the House and Senate are pretty much in lockstep. I have to give it to the judges, state attorneys, and public defenders. You guys have really worked it."

From the very top tier of the judicial branch, Chief Justice Peggy Quince has been "working it" with her quiet strength and firm message.

She has made it clear in meetings with legislative leaders that the courts' ability to carry out the mission of the third branch is in real jeopardy.

The court budget is only seven-tenths of one percent of the $66 billion state budget. But chipping away at the court budget--where more than half goes to pay salaries and benefits for 990 judicial constitutional officers, a fixed cost--has had disastrous ramifications in cutting support staff positions that help the courts run.

In the last two years, the courts had already been slashed $43.7 million--a 9.8 percent reduction in the state court system's total budget. The net impact of those reductions to the salary budget equals 282.24 full-time positions, or 6.8 percent of the 3,100 work force that supports the judicial branch.

A proposed $17 million in further cuts to the state's $438...