Florida courts brace for budget fallout.

With a prediction of poorer and slower services to litigants and fewer services for children caught up in the court system, Florida judges, prosecutors, and defenders are bracing for the outcome of the special legislative session to address the state's budget shortfall.

The session began October 22, as this News went to press, and was scheduled to end no later than November 1. But even before the session, called to address an estimated $1.3-billion revenue deficit, courts and related agencies were cutting back and planning for possible further budget reductions.

In a September 26 memo to chief judges, Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Wells ordered a halt to all hiring, except for judicial assistants, and a moratorium on purchases of equipment and office furniture.

In turn, Wells was asked by the House and Senate appropriations committees to identify how the court budget could be cut by five percent. Trial courts also began coping with cutbacks in state programs that affect their operations, such as not having probation officers in every courtroom.

And state attorneys and public defenders are grappling with the real possibility of furloughing employees and not being able to handle their caseloads.

The problem, say many court officials, is their budgets are mostly salaries with little other spending, and any cuts mean reductions in service.

"We don't have much wiggle room," said Skip Babb, Fifth Circuit public defender and president of the Florida Public Defenders Association. "We don't anticipate a five or seven or 10 percent cut in arrests or informations filed or people charged with capital crimes and facing the death penalty. Our caseloads are already overloaded. We're in quite a dilemma. We have a constitutional responsibility to do this work, and we're already busting at the seams."

The budget problems began last summer when the nation's economic sluggishness led to a decline in state income. Gov. Jeb Bush sent out letters to state agencies, including the courts and related agencies, asking them to begin finding ways to cut spending. The September 11 terrorist attacks put a further dent in state revenues, because of a decline in sales taxes collected from tourists.

State experts estimated on October 15 that the shortfall would be around $1.3 billion for the current budget year and $1.7 billion for next year. Aside from Bush's efforts and his call for a special session, the Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Fiscal Responsibility Council sent letters to all state departments, including judicial branch agencies, asking them how they would cut their budgets by five percent.

A spokesman for the Senate committee said that is not an indication the legislature will make an across-the-board five-percent cut, but the information will help lawmakers figure out where to make cuts, both in the special session and in next year's regular session which will draw up the 2002-03 budget.

"I see no alternative but to impose a hiring freeze on all positions in the branch, with the one exception of judicial assistants," Chief Justice Wells wrote in his memo to chief circuit judges.

"Additionally, I am imposing a moratorium on the purchase of...