Court System Can Take No More Cuts
As headlines in media outlets across the commonwealth indicate, the Massachusetts court system is in a financial crisis. Ambassadors of the court are at the mercy of the legislators on Beacon Hill currently deciding on court budget allocations for fiscal year 2011.
In the meantime, attorneys witness the devastating consequences for our clients already caused by inadequate resources. It is only going to get worse. Inadequate funding and severely strained resources are endangering the state’s delivery of justice to its citizens.
As of June 16, the state budget is still in conference committee, a process in which differences between the respective budgets presented by the House of Representatives and the Senate are reconciled. The Massachusetts Bar Association is advocating for the Senate version of the budget, which allocates $544.3 million for the courts. Once a refined budget emerges from conference committee, it will hit the desk of Gov. Deval Patrick.
Patrick then has the authority to further slice court funding if he feels that is necessary to make up for a potential lack of adequate federal funding to our state. Patrick is currently waiting on the figures for Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Massachusetts and nearly 30 other states are facing drastic budget cuts should the temporary FMAP funding not be extended.
The Massachusetts Bar Association echoes the sentiments of court leadership, including Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall, Chief Justice for Administration and Management Robert A. Mulligan and Associate Justice Peter W. Agnes Jr., president of the Massachusetts Judges Conference, who have all advocated loud and clear for properly funding the commonwealth’s third branch of government.
Although it is roughly $15 million shy of the current court operating budget of $559.3 million, the Senate’s budget is the lesser of two evils when compared to the House version, which falls $30 million short of current funding levels.
Even if the conference committee results in a $544.3 million court budget, that level of funding will result in furloughs, layoffs of up to 250 people (this is in addition to the 740 personnel reductions from July 2007 to May 2010) and consolidations and relocations of at least five court operations. Aside from the dire impacts on court personnel and facilities, citizens seeking justice will also suffer the consequences from that financial blow.
A recent report from the bar association’s Crisis in Court Funding Task Force was released last month and humanizes this financial shortfall. Our courts are charged with protecting the rights of our citizens. The report showcases how these very rights are in jeopardy when the courts’ operations are stretched so thin that the system begins to break down.
The MBA report details real-life examples of court budget cuts that are hampering justice in Massachusetts. Some include:
• A congested court calendar forces a father to continue paying $200 a week in child support to his disabled wife, even though he now has full custody of their two children. The father must pay the support for seven months while he waits for a court date.
• There was no court officer in a courtroom at Worcester Juvenile Court when a group of gang members berated and intimidated the mother of a juvenile, the clerk and judge. The lone court officer assigned to that courtroom was busy escorting a juvenile to lock-up.
• A couple seeking a divorce had to return to court four times in hopes of obtaining an interpreter. When that interpreter was still not available, the soon-to-be ex-wife became virtually hysterical because she could not afford to take more time off from work to appear in court. The judge improvised by using a relative as an interpreter.
Scenarios like these are occurring not just in Worcester County, but across the commonwealth. We must recognize the human impact of any further budget cuts which affect not only the functioning of our justice system, but also the safety of the 42,000 people who come to our courts seeking justice every day.
To view the full MBA report, visit www.massbar.org/crisisincourts.
Valerie A. Yarashus is the president of the Massachusetts Bar Association. She is a principal with Meehan, Boyle, Black and Bogdanow PC in Boston.
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