Over the past three fiscal years, the Contra Costa Superior Court has permanently reduced its budget by nearly $7.5 million due to statewide cuts to the judicial branch budget and unfunded cost increases.

The new state budget presents even more difficult challenges. There are two major problems. First, as a result of cuts to the judicial branch budget and further unfunded cost increases, the court must make an additional $7 million in permanent budget cuts. Second, the state is sweeping (taking) over $8 million in reserves (savings) that the Court painstakingly accumulated over several years to allow it to keep operating at an appropriate level during periods of budget cuts. Since the State has cut the Court’s budget and taken $8 million of its reserves, the Court can no longer maintain its current public service levels.

These reductions amount to approximately 25 percent of the Court’s budget. Despite that, the Court has been, and remains, committed to preserving services it provides to the public and to litigants, while also living within its means. During the week of August 13, 2012, Court leadership met with court staff, justice system partners, other government officials, the legal community and the public in a series of meetings. On August 21, 2012, it published a proposed plan for public comment. As a result of that public input, on August 28, 2012 the Court adopted a modified, final budget reduction plan for implementation during fiscal year 2012-13.

The key components of the plan will have a significant impact on public service levels for years to come. Some of the most important components are these:

• Six courtrooms will be closed and one other reduced to four days a week because the Court does not have sufficient staff to allow them to operate properly. The loss of these courtrooms will seriously hamper the Court’s ability to provide full access to justice and to hear cases without undue delay. The courtrooms to be closed are the following:

• Effective October 22, 2012, the existing Family Law courtroom at the Arnason Justice Center in Pittsburg will be shut down and the cases will be reassigned from a Commissioner to the existing Family Law departments in Martinez. East County residents will have to travel to Martinez to have their Family Law matters considered. Among other things, it will take longer to get a divorce or a decision on child custody.

• The Child Support courtroom in Martinez will be closed one day per week, reducing it to the level of service provided by the basic federal grant which funds this program. This will result in delays in obtaining child support orders.

• Effective December 31, 2012, the Juvenile Law courtroom in Pittsburg will be shut down and the cases will be reassigned to an existing Judge in Martinez, In addition, the Juvenile Law courtroom in Richmond will be shut down and the judge will be reassigned to Martinez. East County and West County residents will have to travel to Martinez to have their Juvenile Law matters heard. The Court is still considering whether a limited number of Juvenile Law calendars will be heard in Pittsburg and Richmond.

• Effective December 31, 2012 one Civil Trial department will be closed and the Civil Discovery/Ex Parte courtroom in Martinez will be shut down. Cases now heard in the to-be-closed Civil Trial department and matters now heard by the Civil Discovery Commissioner will be heard by the remaining Martinez Civil Trial Departments. This will result in increased calendar congestion and will cause delays in hearings, trials, court decisions and orders. .

• The Concord Courthouse will close its doors to the public. Traffic cases will be transferred to the Walnut Creek Court. The remaining case types (Small Claims, Unlawful Detainer, Domestic Violence and Civil Harassment) will be transferred to Martinez, Pittsburg or Richmond. Residents who use the Concord Courthouse will have to travel to another courthouse location. Details regarding these transfers will follow.

• The use of the Walnut Creek Courthouse will change significantly. Only traffic cases will be heard in Walnut Creek. Criminal, Small Claims, Unlawful Detainer, Domestic Violence and Civil Harassment cases will be transferred to Martinez, Pittsburg or Richmond. Residents who use the Walnut Creek Courthouse (except for traffic hearings) will have to travel to another courthouse location,. Details regarding these transfers will follow.

• Two Commissioners will hear Traffic cases on a rotating basis, in Pittsburg, Richmond and Walnut Creek.

• Effective December 31, 2012, court reporting services will be significantly reduced in general civil, family and probate courtrooms. Details regarding these changes will follow.

• Effective December 31, 2012, specialty courts such as Juvenile Night Court, Juvenile and Adult Drug Court, Domestic Violence Court, Homeless Court, Mental Health, Elder Court and Truancy Court will either be consolidated or eliminated to allow the judges to focus on mandated calendars.

• Interpreters in Domestic Violence matters in Family Court will only be provided to the extent grant funding allows. Currently, the grant funds interpreters through the fall of 2012. The Court is seeking additional grant funds from the state to fund these vital services. Details regarding the status of this request for additional funding will follow.

• Effective October 1, 2012, the Clerk’s Office will only be open to the public from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm (reduced from 8:00 am – 3:00 pm). Exceptions will be made for temporary restraining orders and other urgent matters that address the safety of individuals. The reduced hours will provide staff with critically needed time to process the increasing backlog of unprocessed court papers.

• Self-help services and workshops for unrepresented litigants will be reduced.

• Other internal measures that will assist the Court in balancing the budget this fiscal year will be instituted.

The Presiding Judge of the Court, the Honorable Diana Becton said, “The Court deeply regrets having to make these changes. However since the State has cut the court’s budget and taken our reserves we no longer have sufficient funds to provide access to justice throughout the county or in a timely manner. We look forward to restoring these services as soon as the State allots sufficient money to the judicial branch that we may do so. The full and fair administration of justice requires no less.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 at 2:44 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.