Official reporters in California are currently dealing with many changes in the workplace that have evolved out of the financial crisis both on the federal and state level.
One issue in particular that has been of concern for some officials is the issue of payment for the production of criminal transcripts. Criminal transcripts, including those mandated by law to be prepared such as preliminary hearings, felony pleas and sentencings, as well as appeal transcripts, are paid for by the court once the official reporter submits a voucher for payment to the court.
In the best of economic times, payment is rendered to the reporters without any problems. However, when the economic times take a turn for the worse, as we find ourselves in now, the question of payment becomes absolutely muddled. On the one hand, you have some courts that are treating transcript vouchers from court reporters as they would treat any other vendor that is requesting payment for services rendered. Those courts are withholding payment and are telling their officials that until a budget is signed, they will not be paid. And until a budget is signed, those court reporters still have to turn in their criminal transcripts within the time limits prescribed by law. Meanwhile, other counties have continued to pay their court reporters transcripts with no word that they intend to do otherwise.
So how is it possible that there is such a discrepancy in policy from one county to the next? The answer is not an easy one to explain, but it comes down to the fact that every court has its own budget. And as we all know by now, some courts have better budgets than others. While some courts have completely depleted their financial reserves, others still have enough funds reserved to continue paying whatever financial obligations the court may have. And those courts that do have low to no reserves are receiving funding from the state to cover specific items such as employee salaries and benefits. Whatever else the state is not providing funding for, individual courts have to cover the difference. That then brings us back to the issue of a court’s reserves. If a court has low to no reserves, then its fiscal division is telling vendors that they’ll be paid once the state passes a budget. While the vendors have a choice whether to continue providing services in the interim, the official reporters do not. Reporters have an obligation under the law to file transcripts within the specified time.
Now, it may be true that payment for criminal transcripts, for now, varies from county to county. But that may all change if the state budget impasse continues longer than anyone can foresee. As of September 16th California broke a 30 year record for the most days in operation without signing a budget. All indications are the legislature is still at an impasse. Should this record breaking budget impasse continue, reporters may discover as a consequence that what is a policy regarding criminal transcripts in some courts, may wind up being the policy for all of California ‘s courts.
