Judges and Judiciary
Mar. 25, 2015
Chief justice ignores audit, emphasizes internal reform efforts in State of Judiciary address
Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye didn't mention a critical January audit report in her State of the Judiciary Address to the legislature Monday, but did outline ongoing reform efforts within the judicial branch to lawmakers.
Daily Journal Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO - Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye sought to assure lawmakers Monday that the judiciary is making efforts to improve its efficiency.
In her annual State of the Judiciary address to the Legislature, Cantil-Sakauye avoided mention of a highly critical state audit in January that accused court leaders of squandering $30 million. Instead, she reminded lawmakers of her creation of the Strategic Evaluation Committee, a team of judges who critically evaluated court administration in 2012, releasing a report recommending widespread changes.
"Self assessment resulted in quite a few things, among them, a 30 percent reduction in Judicial Council staff, the creation of a court construction cost reduction program, it resulted in opening our educational meetings, it resulted in an open meetings rule," Cantil-Sakauye said.
She also touted a new formula for allocating funds to each of the state's 58 trial courts based on workload, a historic change from outdated funding formulas in place since when counties funded local courts.
The chief justice's comments come a week after lawmakers in a Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearing urged judiciary leaders to pursue the audit's recommended reforms. The report slammed the branch for overpaying executives, using expensive contractors, and other inefficient practices.
"Every day, we were studying our processes to self-assess and evaluate in a time of a shrinking budget," said Cantil-Sakauye.
In a departure from the theme of past years' speeches, the chief justice placed less emphasis on pressing lawmakers for more money and focused instead on efficiency. She's all but abandoned her ambitious proposal last year to see courts gain over $612 million in restored funding. Gov. Jerry Brown in January offered just $180 million in new funding for trial courts.
Cantil-Sakauye sad the cuts to the judiciary in recent years - more than $1 billion dollars over a five year period - means judges must accelerate their search for innovations and efficiencies.
Some the branch has already pursued include the Phoenix fiscal management system and the new self help programs at the trial court level, the justice said. "We've also expanded online educational programs for judges ... and we've also used technology were appropriate" to connect litigants to courts."
Some proposals by the judicial branch to save money have sparked controversy, from charging more for documents to experimental programs such as remote video-conference style language interpretation criticized by interpreters unions.
One challenge the judicial branch faces is a steady decline of attorneys serving in the Legislature, who tend to be more deferential to the judiciary than nonlawyers. Cantil-Sakauye thanked consumer and business attorneys, public officials and the State Bar among others for stumping for the judicial branch to lawmakers.
She also dedicated some of her speech to explaining the judiciary's governance structure. She warned against civic apathy, and noted the upcoming 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta, the impending 50th anniversary of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and the recent anniversary of the executive order mandating internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Cantil-Sakauye said all three anniversaries should serve as reminders of the need to pursue a more just society.
"As three branches of government I know we can disagree on many, many things. But I'd like to believe we can all agree on one thing - and that is our hope for a fair and enduring democracy," she said. <a style="color:#123f72;"
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