Dear Bar Association Presidents,

As you know, the House budget issued last week allocated $553 million to the Massachusetts Trial Court and did not include several management tools that we had requested.  We greatly appreciate all that you and your members have done thus far to support adequate funding for the judiciary.  At this point in the process, we believe that you and your bar members can be most helpful by calling Senate leaders and local Senators, as they prepare their budget.  A budget fact sheet and Senate contact information are attached.

Particularly because demands on the courts are greatest during difficult times, the House-recommended budget compromises our ability to accomplish our mission – the delivery of justice promptly and efficiently to 43,000 daily court users – at the proposed funding level.  We estimate that the House budget would require 400 involuntary layoffs, in addition to elimination of another 400 positions through the hiring freeze implemented last year.

We have filed several amendments for consideration in the House debate.  The amendments reduce baseline funding requested to $573.7 million, $10 million less than our original request in recognition of the deteriorating fiscal situation in the Commonwealth.  We do not believe that a request to fully restore funding would be strategically wise at this point in time.

This revised request seeks a $20 million increase over the House budget with approximately half raised by revenue – a new motor vehicle infraction hearing fee and an increase in the administrative probation supervision fee – that the court would retain.  With attrition and additional aggressive cost savings, such as voluntary personnel leaves, lease terminations and lease reductions, the Trial Court believes that it can manage in FY10 at $573.7 million.

Amendments to obtain funding for the FY10 portion of the Local 6 clerical union contract also were filed.  We also have requested full transferability, which is a critical budget management tool to enable equitable funding across all Trial Court entities.  If we are to have any measure of success in operating with a greatly reduced budget, full transferability is absolutely essential.

You and your members fully realize the impact of inadequate funding of the courts on your ability to effectively resolve issues for local citizens and businesses.  From requests for modification of custody agreements to tenant-landlord disputes to juvenile care and protection, the delays in case processing and decision making that will result from inadequate funding have widespread public impact.