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.