Culver on more cuts to judiciary budget: ‘Absolutely not’

CEDAR RAPIDS — Gov. Chet Culver said he doesn’t believe further cuts to the Iowa Judicial Branch would be in the best interests of Iowans.

Gov. Chet Culver

“I surely do share the concerns of Chief Justice Marsha Ternus,” Culver told The Iowa Independent Thursday during a stop in Cedar Rapids. “I want to work with the legislature to do all we can to support the Iowa Courts at the highest possible level.”

During her State of the Judiciary speech Wednesday before both chambers of the Iowa legislature and key government officials, Ternus noted that the Iowa Judicial Branch have been especially hard it by budget cuts.

“Our work force represents only 4 percent of state government’s entire workforce; yet, our latest workforce reduction, which included the elimination of vacant positions and layoffs amounted to approximately 23 percent of the entire state’s workforce reduction,” Ternus said during the speech.

“Focusing just on layoffs, the judicial branch laid off 110 employees, more than any other entity in government. On top of our workforce reduction, we have imposed 10 days of unpaid leave on all judicial officers and court employees. While employees of other state entities are taking unpaid leave, most are taking far less than 10 days, and many are taking none at all.”

Although Ternus praised judicial staff for keeping much of the “growing imbalance between resources and workload” confined, she also noted that the general public can no longer be insulated from problems created by budget cuts.

All clerk of court offices, the primary access point by the public to the court system, have limited hours of operation. Iowans will likely experience delays in child support processing and docketing liens, and will possibly not have the opportunity to work directly with court staff to complete pro se forms for small claims, marriage dissolution and mental health commitments. In addition, the public should expect to wait longer for trial and hearing dates, and anticipate that pressures to offer plea bargains will increase, she noted.

“The good news is that [the Judicial Branch] is only 3 percent of the overall state budget,” Culver said. “I hope that we can make some in-roads in terms of helping at a little higher level in fiscal year 2011.  I think she made a very compelling case yesterday.”

When asked specifically if he believed the Judicial Branch would be subjected to more cuts as lawmakers seek to balance the budget, Culver said that he did not.

“Absolutely not,” he said. “I think, at a minimum, they will maintain the status quo — that’s what she requested — and maybe we can even do a little bit better in some strategic areas. … We are going to be as targeted as we can in relation to these areas we know to be critical.”

Protective orders and other areas within the judiciary that involved children and the protection of children are key items Culver named as possibilities for increased monetary support from the state. This was also an area that Ternus highlighted to the legislature, indicating that she could not “emphasize enough the serious consequences the budget cuts have on vulnerable and troubled children and on young adults in particular.”

Society, she said, will pay the price when troubled youth cannot be identified, monitored and provided the services they need.

“When we fail to effectively address their problems early on, we greatly increase the odds that these children will end up in the adult correctional and mental health systems,” Ternus warned. “If that happens, not only will we have failed to provide these children with the tools they need to become productive members of society, we will have put the safety of our communities at risk.”