Judicial budget crisis: this crisis is your story to tell.

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

When Peggy Quince was sworn in as Florida's chief justice, I promised her that The Florida Bar is committed to working with her to solve the court funding crisis.

I said then and I reiterate now: We must find a permanent solution and permanent funding source for our judiciary now, or the quality of our courts will drastically decline.

And when I say "we" and pledge the Bar's support, I mean that I also count on you. You are the lawyers who, on behalf of the citizens of this state, use and rely on Florida's courts every day. Your voice will ring with credibility as you help spread the word that the judiciary cannot sustain any more cuts without damaging its constitutional guarantee that the courts "will be open to every person for redress of any injury, and justice shall be administered without sale, denial, or delay."

It's important to realize that prior to the funding reductions; Florida's courts operate efficiently, taking only a 0.7 percent slice of Florida's $66 billion state budget--less than half of average of other states. Half of the judicial branch salary budget--50.28 percent--goes to pay the salaries and benefits for 990 judicial constitutional officers, and it is not possible to alter those dollars.

Already, in 2007-08 and 2008-09, the legislature imposed 10 percent cuts, slashing $44 million resulting in losing 280 positions out of a 3,100-member workforce.

Chief Justice Quince is fighting a proposed $17 million--or 250 additional positions--in further cuts to the state's $438 million court budget. She is reaching out to the executive and legislative branches by stressing her increasing concern about the ability of the third branch to carry out its constitutionally mandated duties.

Already, the impact of budget cuts are causing delays in moving cases through the courts. In the Sixth Circuit, for example, staffing has been reduced for Unified Family Courts, our model way of handling disputes involving families and children.

In the Seventh Circuit, where it used to take three months to get a hearing on a divorce case has been doubled to six months.

With real property and mortgage foreclosures skyrocketing 358 percent over the past three years in Florida, there has been a huge drop-off in statewide clearance rates in the civil area: from 91 percent in 2005-06 down to 73.5 percent in 2006-07.

The impact of severe budget cuts will continue to play out in each and every of...