Newsom’s first budget is cheered by court officials

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to completely revamp the juvenile justice system while unveiling a courts-friendly budget Thursday.

"We're going to end the juvenile justice system as we know it and bring it into Health and Human Services," Newsom said.

The budget summary distributed by Newsom's staff said the plan would move the 759 juvenile offenders currently in the system into a new department under the Health and Human Services Agency. This will "enable the state to better provide youth offenders with services needed to be successful when they are released," the summary stated.

Newsom said he also plans to provide better rehabilitation to adult offenders. This includes proposals to spend more on programs from tattoo removal to literacy, which Newsom said have been shown to have a greater impact on recidivism that many more expensive rehabilitation programs.

"I don't think there's a greater return on investment than teaching someone to read," he said.

Newsom allocated $4.1 billion for the courts in the 2019-2020 fiscal year, including $2.4 billion for trial court operations. These numbers are similar to what then-Gov. Jerry Brown proposed last year, though with increases in key areas like technology, deferred maintenance and court staff raises.

"Governor Newsom's budget proposal for the Judicial Branch will help maintain momentum on branch initiatives and innovations designed to deliver full and fair access to justice," said Chief Justice Tani-Cantil Sakauye in a statement. "His proposal reflects a shared commitment to modernization, transparency, and customer service."

Newsom promised to improve the state's technology procurement across the board, including $41.9 million to modernize court technology and improve accessibility. This includes $23.1 million to replace 14 outdated case management systems at 10 trial courts across the state.

Another $7.7 million will be used to migrate courts to an updated personnel system, while $5.6 million was set aside for digitizing court records.

"Gov. Newsom's proposed budget includes much-needed funding for critical court technology modernizations that will benefit consumers, such as upgrades in trial court case management systems and the expanded use of remote appearances in civil cases," said Consumer Attorneys of California president Mike Arias in a press release.

Court staff will get $9.5 million for pay increases and $25.9 million in benefit increases.

Another $52.5 million will go to the Trial Court Trust Fund to offset declining fines and fees. Deferred maintenance will get $40 million, with another $20.2 million going to ongoing maintenance. The budget also sets aside $20 million for dependency counsel -- a frequent ask from Democratic legislators -- and $13.9 million for resentencing cannabis offenders.

Due to a quirk in California law, Newsom had to unveil his annual budget just three days after taking office. While his budget priorities clearly move the state left, his plan was more restrained than some feared.

So much so the plan was praised by several legislative Republicans -- even in contrast to the famously frugal Brown.

"The governor is acting more like a Chief Executive Officer than his predecessor," said Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, an accountant and outspoken budget hawk on the GOP side.

Newsom acknowledged that some of ideas could land the state in court. For instance, he pledged to withhold SB 1 transportation funds from local governments that refuse to build housing, saying housing was at the core of the state's rising cost of living.

Newsom also noted Republicans in Congress were already preparing a bill to block his efforts to include immigrant adults up to age 25 who are in the country without permission in Medi-Cal, adding "so that means we're on the right track."