Assembly OKs $8.8 Million for O.C. Courts

SANTA ANA —  Easing a constitutional standoff that once pitted Orange County’s judges against the Board of Supervisors, the state Assembly on Monday overwhelmingly approved an emergency bill that will provide the county’s courts with funds needed to prevent a courthouse shutdown during June.

The Assembly’s action all but assures that the courts will operate without interruption through the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The bill is expected to be approved by the state Senate and signed by Gov. Pete Wilson on Thursday.

The move ends a yearlong struggle by the judges to close a courthouse budget gap that at one time exceeded $31 million and now stands at about $20 million.

Without a bailout--either from the state, the county, or both--the judges had predicted that judicial proceedings would come to a virtual halt with criminal cases going unheard and defendants losing their constitutional right to a speedy trial.

On Monday, officials said the dire scenario was behind them.

“Everything looks pretty good at this point,” said Alan Slater, executive officer of the Orange County Superior Court. “Obviously, this bill is critical to solving our financial problems.”

Slater and others expressed relief at the Assembly’s vote, even though it came at virtually the last minute. The courts have been rapidly depleting their accounts over the last few weeks and it was uncertain whether the May 17 payroll could be covered without state assistance. Officials estimated that the courts would run out of money by June.

The Assembly was originally scheduled to vote last Thursday on the bill, which provides relief to several financially ailing counties. But a decision was postponed at the request of Assembly Democrats concerned about a labor dispute between Los Angeles County and a court clerks union.

The last-minute snag was worked out by Monday, and the Assembly approved the legislation on a commanding 68-0 vote.

“There’s a saying that nothing gets done until the last minute. I think that was the case here,” said Dan Chick, legislative aide to the bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside).

The legislation provides the Orange County courts with $8.8 million in state funding, and requires the county to provide about $13 million. But over the last few months, the county has allocated more than $8 million to the courts, reducing the amount it will have to ante up once the bill becomes law.

County officials have asked the state controller to transfer the $8 million in state money as soon as possible.

“We need this money desperately to keep the courts operating,” Supervisor Don Saltarelli said. “I’m thrilled. We are happily looking forward to getting the check.”

County and court officials have been working for months on a state bailout. Originally, the judges predicted that money would run out by mid-April, forcing them either to close the municipal and superior court buildings or sue the supervisors in an attempt to get the needed operating funds.

Judges warned that a shutdown would result in delays for thousands of felony cases, civil lawsuits, divorces and child custody hearings. They questioned whether it was legally possible to close the courts, whose duties are established by the U.S. Constitution and state law.

Some county officials, however, considered the predictions overly dire and urged the courts to cut costs as much as possible.

County officials said they were unable to cover the entire shortfall as the judges requested. Instead, they agreed to join forces and press for a state bailout.

Thanks to the $8 million in contributions from the county, the shutdown date was pushed back to early June--just as the county is scheduled to emerge from bankruptcy. County leaders feared a court crisis could complicate recovery efforts.

The financial problems stem from a 57% reduction in state funding to trial courts over the last five years. The budget cuts, made to help balance the state budget, left Orange County facing increased funding demands by the judges at a time when its financial resources had been devastated by the bankruptcy.

The state now provides less than 35% of Orange County’s court operations budget. But because of the December 1994 bankruptcy, the county also reduced its funding.

Court officials around the state are pressuring legislators and the governor to restore some funding to the courts in hopes of preventing repeated funding crises. But they admit it will be a challenge to get substantially more court funding into the state budget.

“We don’t want to go through next year what we went through this year,” said Theodore E. Millard, the presiding judge for Orange County Superior Court.