ER Watch: State Budget Does Not Include ER

Posted in: Electronic Recording, Uncategorized

There’s good news and bad news from Sacramento. I’ve received early word, which has been confirmed by COCRA’s lobbying firm, that the new state budget will not include ER or digital recording. This is great news for officials and it’s a sign that legislators were paying close attention to what the court reporter associations and unions had to say about the issue of electronic recording when they testified before the Assembly Subcommittee Hearing last month. Janice Scott, COCRA’s current president, spoke about the hearing in a video blog she posted to our YouTube site.

The bad news here is that California courts are looking at a $245 million reduction in this year’s budget. Of course the “good folks” over at the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Judicial Council have a solution that would see cuts across the board that would affect all court personnel including official reporters. The funny thing here is that nowhere is there any mention of the millions of dollars in reserves that the AOC/JC have under their thumbs. I’ve seen one assessment that says the AOC may have unencumbered reserves of at least $355 million. Now, I may not be a budget whiz and I may not know the difference between encumbered and unecumbered reserves, but I know one thing for sure, the AOC/JC has money. And if they expect court employees to make up for the budget reduction by taking a hit, then it’s only fair to expect the AOC/JC to unclench their tight fists and let go of some of the money they have.

1. Janice Scott
   May 20th, 2008 at 2:27 pm

   Thanks for posting this…really important for everyone to know we aren’t out of the woods yet, but we are strong and trekking forward. The budget year isn’t over. We have to keep both eyes on what is going on in Sacramento as they try to finalize the budget. It’s just nice to know that all reporters’ and unions’ hard work is paying off, and that’s what kept us out of the May revise!

2. Lyn Yard
   May 22nd, 2008 at 5:18 pm

   We hope to have another promised meeting of the Trial Court Employees Working Group so that we may gather some further information about the AOC budget. We were slated to meet again after the May Revise came out. Waiting to see when another meeting about the budget can take place.
   We’ll keep you posted!