Bills revisit court funding issues: we have a moral obligation to look at every efficiency we can'.

Bills filed in the Florida Legislature would reroute some of the filing fees collected by the clerks of court directly to the court system to help the courts cope with their ongoing budget crisis.

Some of those fees now go to the clerks and others go to the state's general revenue fund.

The bills also would redirect some court-supporting functions in order to promote operational efficiencies.

HB 1121 was introduced in the House by Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Ft. Lauderdale, and SB 2108 was introduced in the upper chamber by Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie. Bogdanoff is chair of the Finance and Tax Council, and also serves on the Rules and Calendar Council and the Policy Council. Pruitt is immediate past Senate president and chairs the Policy and Steering Committee on Social Responsibility, and sits on the Policy and Steering Committee on Ways and Means and the Finance and Tax Committee.

The bills incorporate m a n y o f the goals spelled out by Supreme Court Chief Justice Peggy Quince for improving operational efficiencies and financing the court system, although those goals do not specifically call for absorbing some clerk functions into the courts. (See story in the March 1 Bar News.)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Bar's Executive Committee has also approved two new legislative positions. One puts the Bar in support of the seven principles outlined by Quince to achieve stable financing for the courts. The second puts the Bar on record as favoring "further legislative review of court-related functions now provided by Florida's clerks of court."

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The committee acted on February 23, shortly before the two bills were filed.

The Florida Association of Court Clerks and Comptrollers has criticized the bills. The clerks support better funding for the courts, including surplus fees generated by the clerks. But they oppose giving up their court-supporting functions.

The dispute has set off a flurry of charges, countercharges, and competing facts and figures from courts and clerks. But Rep. Bogdanoff said it's wrong to look at the bill as a clerk/ court conflict.

"I think there's a perception out there this is a big power grab by the courts. This has nothing to do with the courts," she said.

Instead, it's about what Bogdanoff sees as a lack of accountability and transparency in clerks' operations, where she said there could be as much as a $200 million savings that the state desperately needs as it faces a multibillion dollar budget...