The Administrative Office of the Courts controls the budgets for County courts, but it has kept its own finances largely hidden while LA County courts face major service cuts to the public.
SEIU members have been demanding the AOC open its books — and keep courts open — for months. Now judges have joined the call for budget transparency.
A majority of judges in Sacramento County signed a letter to the AOC opposing its plan to close courts and insisting they open their books. The judges also questioned the billion-dollar computer system that they say is a disaster.
“What this bureaucracy has become is a huge, centralized government that wants to put its imprimatur and its footprint on everything the local trial courts do,” said Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard.
Read about the judges’ letter in the Sacramento Bee.
AOC Director William Vickrey said the AOC has grown more than 77% since 2004, adding hundreds of new positions while County courts scramble to keep pace with caseloads.
Now LA County courts have closed down one day a month, and the AOC wants to close courts statewide.
“Given the state’s extreme fiscal emergency, every aspect of state government is undergoing intense scrutiny. The courts cannot and should not escape it,” said an editorial in the Sacramento Bee. Read the editorial calling for the AOC to open its books.