Cuts could halt courts, judges warn

[flashl]

Source: Miami Herald

Judges warned that some court cases could come to a halt this spring if lawmakers impose the cuts they say are needed to balance the budget.

TALLAHASSEE --Traffic court would stop. Abuse cases and child-custody hearings would be postponed. Banks would face long delays getting foreclosed homes back on the market. And alimony, divorce and commercial litigation hearings would come to a halt.

...

The dire predictions are the latest alarm sounded in Florida's growing budget crisis as Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders say they need millions in new budget cuts by June 30 to balance the 2007-08 budget and another $3 billion in cuts next year.

The chief judges of the state's 20 circuit courts and Fred Lewis, chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court, paraded before lawmakers to urge them to spare the court system and allow them to make alternative cuts that don't affect the administration of justice.

''This essentially brings your court system to a halt,'' Lewis said

Miami Herald

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/458/story/425527.html

---

States across the country are deeply cutting budgets and there are no agencies or groups protected this time around during these cuts. The only 'concern' raised, delaying foreclosures, may get attention.

[cornermouse]

1. Abuse and child custody cases would be postponed?

A little problem with basic values and priorities, wouldn't you say?

[SpiralHawk]

2. "Ah, this is all the fault of, um, the Clenis. Smirk" - Jebbie

"Me and my republicon homelander cronies are, um (smirk) totally innocent (smirk)."

- Jebbie

[ClintonTyree]

3. Christ is the lucky one who has to clean up another Bush mess....

just as our next President will have to clean up after Jeb's older and more stupid brother. A cottage industry has been born from cleaning up the monetary and social catastrophes created by the Bush clan.

Maybe it's time for Florida to consider an income tax? They can only fleece the tourists so much before they catch on and start going somewhere else for fun in the sun. Florida has long been a haven for the idle rich, maybe it's time they started contributing something back to the state that's harbored them and their money for so long? :shrug:

[flashl]

5. Or fill the state's coffers with billions overnite by removing friends businesses

from tax exemptions.

[DeeDeeNY]

4. I think I know the problem

Maybe this could just make a difference

:sarcasm:

[Thothmes]

6. Sound like it is time for a tax increase in Florida.

[Roland99]

7. Well there is no state income tax.

[Thothmes]

9. This is true but so do six other states.

It appears that Florida is the only one in serious financial trouble at this time. I do not know what taxes Florida collects, but it is obviously not enough to pay the bills. To meet the requirements of their constitutional, they must raise taxes, cut expenditures and or a combination of both. State government is paid to make these difficult decisions.

[tanyev]

8. Obviously it's time for the judicial system to be privatized.

That will solve everything.





:sarcasm:

[flashl]

10. Especially if states decides to play with their judges' pensions

Judges threaten flight if pensions are cut

Pension cut could prompt judges’ flight, Bucci warns

PROVIDENCE — About a third of the state’s judges will retire all at once if the legislature adopts Governor Carcieri’s proposal to slash judicial pensions by the amount of Social Security benefits they’re due to receive, the head of a state judges’ association predicts.

By the end of the current fiscal year, 23 of the state’s 59 judges will be eligible to retire with pensions equal to either 75 percent or 100 percent of full pay, a courts spokesman said.

And the “vast majority, if not all,” of those 23 judges will retire rather than lose annual Social Security payments estimated to be at least $20,000 per year, said District Court Judge Elaine T. Bucci, president of the Rhode Island Trial Judges Association. She said she hasn’t spoken to each judge, but she said, “Why wouldn’t they retire? That’s a big number.”

Bucci warned that such a large exodus would have a devastating effect on the courts. “I think we would have to come to a dead stop — it would be that significant,” she said. “That would affect everyone: litigants, lawyers, defendants and the criminal justice system where people are entitled to speedy trials.”

Providence Journal