SEIU California
For Immediate Release
January 7, 2015
STATE AUDIT AFFIRMS COURT WORKERS’ CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY IN JUDICIAL BRANCH SPENDING
Sacramento, CA – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California issued the following statement after the release of the State Auditor’s report on Judicial Branch spending. The report finds, “Because of Questionable Fiscal and Operational Decisions, the Judicial Council and the Administrative Office of the Courts Have Not Maximized the Funds Available for the Courts.”
Statement of Debbi Pearson, court worker, Alameda County Superior Court:
“Today’s audit confirms the concerns frontline court workers have expressed for years and underscores the reason we advocated for an audit last year: the Administrative Office of the Courts’ mismanagement and misplaced prioritizes have compromised the delivery of justice to Californians.
“As California turns a fiscal corner and begins to reinvest in our financially devastated trial courts, it is imperative that the Legislature demand improved accountability and transparency to restore taxpayers’ trust in the judicial branch and ensure the timely access to justice that is at the heart of a civil society.”
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Members of the Service Employees International Union provide essential court services that deliver justice to Californians. On the frontlines of the crisis created by wasteful administrative spending and deep cuts that shuttered courtrooms and created lengthy delays in accessing justice, court workers have blown the whistle on wasteful spending by the centralized management of the Judicial Branch for years. Court workers exposed unjustified spending on building maintenance, and called for an end to wasteful spending on the multi-billion dollar Court Case Management System IT boondoggle. On behalf of the workers who do the essential jobs of our justice system, SEIU California called for an audit of the Judicial Branch in 2014.
