SAN FRANCISCO (CN) — One official with the California Judicial Council figures this month is the best time for state lawmakers to visit local courtrooms to get a first-hand view of how they operate.
That suggestion came Friday, the same day the council formally allocated some $3 billion to the state’s trial courts.
The state’s fiscal year 2024-25 budget, approved last month, had significant cuts across California government. Courts weren’t immune. The judicial branch had a budget of $5.2 billion last fiscal year, which was reduced to $5.1 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
The reduction is a reflection of the 7.95% cut to almost all state departments in this year’s budget.
“This is a clearly challenging budget for the branch,” said Shelley Curran, the council’s administrative director.
Of the $5.1 billion budget, $3 billion goes to trial courts.
Curran noted a series of steps the council — responsible for managing the judicial branch’s resources — will take in the upcoming fiscal year to reduce expenses. They include stopping all but necessary travel and implementing a soft hiring freeze.
The administrator also suggested legislators take this month to visit courtrooms in their districts, as they’re currently on summer recess.
“There is nothing like seeing court in action,” Curran said.
According to Fresno County Superior Court Judge Jonathan B. Conklin, a Judicial Council member, much of the trial court money goes to paying for the work that’s done daily. He said an essential question the council had to tackle this year was how to allocate fewer dollars in an equitable way.
As equity is a main goal of the council, along with transparency and stability, Conklin said some courts took a bigger financial hit than others.
Like with many other parts of state government, a series of monetary maneuvers were used to balance the judicial branch budget. Some moves included taking $100 million from the 2024-25 fund balance in the trial court trust fund and putting it in the state general fund. Some $20 million in savings from a 2021-22 court interpreter grant program and $16 million in 2022-23 and 2023-24 savings from funds to recruit and retain court reporters helped as well.
California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero on Friday said she appreciated Governor Gavin Newsom’s work on reaching a budget deal with legislative leaders, adding that the judicial branch faces challenges.
Guerrero’s message to the council echoed some of her earlier comments at key moments of the budget-building process. When Newsom unveiled his May revised budget, Guerrero said she understood the steps Newsom needed to take. However, she also was concerned about the expected impacts budget cuts would have.
“We know the courts are vital to the public,” Guerrero told the council Friday.
“Our judicial branch is resilient,” she added moments later. “This is a team effort, again, as you all know.”
Friday’s action by the council is the latest step in bureaucratic dance that began late last year.
The state Legislative Analyst’s Office said last year that lawmakers were staring down a $68 billion deficit. Newsom’s estimate was more bullish, with the governor saying the shortfall was closer to $38 billion.
The estimates changed as the months progressed and updated versions of the budget were released. Early action taken by the Legislature in April — a series of fund shifts and money pullbacks, along with other accounting moves — reduced the deficit.
Newsom and top Democratic lawmakers reached a budget agreement in late June, about a week from the deadline to pass the budget.
While Democrats lauded the budget’s passage, one Republican senator said lawmakers should expect more deficits when Newsom unveils his fiscal year 2025-26 budget in January.