Meeting the challenge for adequate funding of Florida's court system.

• Author: McGrane, Miles
• Position: President's Page

The upcoming session of the Florida Legislature will likely be the most important in recent memory as lawmakers decide how to pay for our trial courts.

This Article V funding issue had its genesis in the constitutional amendment known as Revision 7, which was approved by voters in 1998. The amendment mandated that the state take over more funding of our county and circuit courts, and do so no later than July 1, 2004.

Last year, our lawmakers approved the framework for what will be paid for by the state and what will remain county responsibilities. That plan has won praise from court officials and others; but, as noted by Trial Court Budget Commission Chair Susan Schaeffer, a Sixth Circuit judge, this is the critical year. The legislature must provide the resources and flesh out the plan it sketched last year.

There are reasons this will be a special challenge.

Our state and national economies are still less than robust. This could continue to put a damper on the state's revenues.

Our elected legislature--whether you agree or not--has hewed to a policy of exceptional frugality toward state finances.

We do have advantages, though. The legal system has been carefully scrutinized over the past two years, and legislators have generally concluded our courts are efficient and well run.

Under the leadership of Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead and helped by the Bar, the Supreme Court has embarked on a vigorous education campaign to amass public support for adequate court funding. Floridians are learning that Florida's judges dispose of millions of cases each year, involving criminal, family, civil, juvenile, probate, and other areas. Those actions protect public safety and personal property, resolve business disputes, and help the state in its social, business, cultural, and governmental activities--all at a cost, even with increased funding, at well under one percent of the state budget.

The business community also is awakening to the issue. With help from The Florida Bar and other organizations, TaxWatch, an independent...