As chronicled in last month’s Bar Bulletin article by John Cary and Wayne Blair, the Legislature was presented with a substantial “Justice in Jeopardy” funding package in the 2007 session: the total of the requests exceeded $62 million. And, the Legislature stepped forward, continuing to recognize the crisis facing our justice system in providing basic trial court services by allocating nearly $27 million in new state general fund appropriations.
While still awaiting the governor’s signature at the time of this writing, the budget as passed by the Legislature provides significant funding in each of the areas pursued as follows:
An additional $325,000 to complete the juror pay research project begun in 2006 to assess the impact of increased juror pay on juror response rates, and ultimately, the representativeness of jury pools. Final results of the project are expected in the spring of 2008 and will inform the decision to seek funding for a statewide increase in juror compensation in the 2009 legislative session.
Two million dollars was allocated to improve the provision of interpreter services for limited English proficient persons. In the first year of the biennium, $340,000 was allocated to the Administrative Office of the Courts to assist in the development and implementation of a language assistance plan in every trial court across the state.
Courts with adopted language assistance plans will be eligible to apply for a portion of the funds appropriated to reimburse courts for a share of the cost of state-certified or state-registered language interpreters and interpreters for the hearing impaired. The Legislature appropriated $610,000 and $950,000 for this purpose in the first and second years of the biennium, respectively. It is anticipated that this funding will meet between 20 and 25 percent of the need this biennium and will provide data to determine if use of certified and registered interpreters increases as a result of the funding.
Six million dollars of new funding was allocated to support continued expansion and improvement of Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) programs (volunteer guardians ad litem representing the interests of children in dependency and termination cases). The funds will be targeted at lowering the ratio of volunteers per supervisor, reducing staff GAL caseloads, increasing volunteer recruitment and retention, establishing programs in areas currently not being served, and stabilizing the smaller programs.
Some $4.7 million was allocated to the Office of Civil Legal Aid under the Justice in Jeopardy banner. Access to civil legal aid will improve in nine rural service regions as minimum levels of presence will be established or reached as a result of the funding. The funds also will support a new partnership developing between the Northwest Justice Project CLEAR system and the King County 211 information and referral system to establish unified intake, advice and referral capacity serving King County.
Just over $7 million was appropriated to the Washington State Office of Public Defense, increasing the State’s commitment to improving indigent criminal defense representation under Chapter 10.101 RCW (HB 1542 resulting from the 2005 Justice in Jeopardy efforts). These funds will be distributed directly to counties and some cities to continue making progress toward meeting the WSBA public defense standards.
The Office of Public Defense will continue its parallel programs assisting local jurisdictions looking to improve the structure and administration of their indigent defense services, providing training and resources to public defenders, and conducting innovative pilot projects.
Finally, $6.5 million was appropriated to continue expansion of the Parents’ Representation Program in dependency and termination cases to a number of new counties.
The results of the 2007 legislative session, as in 2005 and 2006, reinforce the approach of the Justice in Jeopardy Initiative established under the Court Funding Task Force: over several biennia, take deliberative, incremental steps to increase state funding for the trial courts and increase base funding, and anchor the effort to improve trial court operations, civil legal aid, public defense and parents’ representation through strong partnerships speaking with a unified voice. All of us — lawyers, judges and the public — appreciate the commitment of legislators to ensuring equal access and protections to all citizens under our constitution and laws through increased funding of our trial courts.
Washington State Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and King County Superior Court Judge Deborah D. Fleck serve as co-chairs of the Court Funding Implementation Committee of the Board for Judicial Administration.
