MinnLawyer Blog

Leo Brisbois, the president of the Minnesota State Bar Association, released a statement in response to the funding cuts for the state’s judicial branch outlined in Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget he introduced this week. In that document, the courts stand to lose nearly an additional $15 million for the next two years.

Brisbois’ statement is below:

“The MSBA has and will continue to support adequate funding for the Justice System (i.e., the courts, civil legal services, and public defenders). The MSBA has been an active member of the Coalition to Preserve Minnesota’s Justice System along with the Chief Justice Eric Magnuson and the State Court Administrator’s Office, the Board of Public Defense, the Legal Services community, the County and City Attorneys, and other stake holders who support and depend upon an adequately funded justice system.

Just last year, the MSBA worked closely with its Coalition partners and members of the Legislature on identifying which filing and other Court fees might be responsibly increased to raise additional revenue for the Justice System without seriously jeopardizing ordinary citizens’ ability to afford to access the Justice System, as well as, by supporting an interim increase in attorney license fees to also help with public defender and civil legal service funding in these difficult economic times. The Governor’s recently proposed supplemental budget cuts for the remainder of the present biennium raise serious concerns about the Justice System’s ability to continue to provide timely and efficient justice for all of our state’s citizens.

The Justice System has been significantly underfunded for several biennia now to the point that virtually all internal systemic cost efficiencies have been achieved without further jeopardizing the personnel needed to perform the important work of the Justice System. The Courts are currently understaffed due to prior budget cuts by 10% and with the Governor’s proposed additional cuts that level of understaffing could increase to 13%; judicial vacancies are being held open for longer periods of time rather than being filled immediately in an effort to reduce costs; drug courts (which studies have shown actually save public dollars in the long run) will have to close; and Court public counter staffing and hours are being cut to the point that the many Courts around the state will be closed to the public for a part of each week – - all of which will and are resulting in a growing backlog in the ability of the Courts to deliver timely justice for our state’s citizens. The further proposed cuts to the Public Defenders likewise exacerbate the ability for County and City prosecutors to move many of their criminal cases expeditiously as part of their public safety duties because, as a recent Legislative Auditor report has indicated, the public defenders in this state are understaffed and carrying individual case loads at twice the recommended levels – - the public defenders simply cannot be in multiple courtrooms at the same time. Moreover, the under staffing of Public Defenders with the resulting delays in being able to process criminal cases (which have constitutional speedy trial requirements that give criminal cases priorities on the docket) also means delays in the processing of other civil legal matters further down the courts’ docket thus impeding all citizens’ access to the Justice System in a timely and efficient manner.

Indeed, in these difficult economic times, individual Minnesotans of all kinds are finding greater need to seek the civil remedies and protections available to them in the Justice System, but because of these same economic difficulties they find that they need the help of free or reduced cost civil legal service programs. However, even as more Minnesotans become financially eligible for civil legal aid services, further proposed budget cuts in this area of the Justice System also mean fewer of those clients will be able to receive the legal advice and counsel they need.

Providing an efficient, affordable, accessible, and effective system to resolve criminal and civil justice matters for all of our State’s citizens is a core, constitutional function of state government which provides a fundamental, foundational benefits for all of society by enhancing our business climate with an efficient and affordable means to resolve contract disputes, a reliable and fair place for the peaceable redress of civil disputes between individuals, and providing the forum for hearing criminal cases as part of maintaining public safety and security. The MSBA hopes that as the Legislature works to addresses the current budget issues, it will provide adequate funding for the Justice System so that it can continue to deliver core services of government for the benefit of all Minnesotans.”