Senate panel supportive of court funding plan.

Another Senate panel has embraced a plan to stabilize funding for the state's courts and clerks.

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The Senate Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations November 15 had high praise for the Revenue Stabilization Workgroup's recommendations to rely more heavily on general revenue sources to fund the branch's core functions. The full Senate Budget Committee had expressed general support for the plan earlier in the month.

"The important thing for me is the judicial branch of government is a third branch of government, and we owe an obligation to the citizens who use that branch of government to make sure there is stability," said Sen. John Thrasher, R-Jacksonville, adding that it is untenable that the courts currently have to "come back begging us to fund their operations on behalf of the citizens who use them."

Chair Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, agreed, and said he would include the workgroup's recommendations in the committee's proposed budget.

Fasano said while the courts and the Legislature are often at odds, "that should play no role in the importance of funding our third branch of government and making sure that when we do give you a budget that the dollars are there for you to appropriate and to allocate through that fiscal year."

"We will make sure that happens this year," Fasano said.

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The workgroup was set up in reaction to a shortfall in the collecting of filing fees and other court costs, which in turn has led to courts and clerks not receiving enough money to fund their authorized budgets. Both have needed loans from the executive branch to get through their 2010-11 budgets and again in the current budget year. The courts needed loans of almost $100 million this year to function through next March.

Tenth Judicial Circuit Judge John Laurent and Sarasota County Clerk of Court Karen Rushing, co-chairs of the workgroup, presented its findings.

The workgroup recommended that Florida courts and the court-related functions of clerks should be considered as a single budget entity--called the Core Court System--and more of the $1 billion raised last year through court filing fees, fines, and other costs should be reserved for court activities.

In the current budget year, the court-related functions for clerks are budgeted from all sources at approximately $450 million while the court system is budgeted at around $436 million.

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