Chief Justice Releases Statement on Judicial Branch Budget for Fiscal Year 2017-18

Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye released the following statement after Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed the Budget Act for fiscal year 2017–2018:

I am pleased with the provision for funding legal aid organizations and those attorneys representing foster children, but I remain disappointed that our underfunded court system did not receive more help. Chronic underfunding of the courts unfairly affects members of the public seeking their day in court. Trial courts receive a little more than a penny for every general fund tax dollar, and in the past the judicial branch has had funds swept to support the state budget during times of crisis. Now the courts have an ongoing funding crisis, new laws are added annually, there are more complex cases, but there is no stable funding solution for the judicial branch and the people we all serve.