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Sitting high on the dais at the Young Lawyers Division Legislative/Governmental Symposium, Harry Lee Anstead suddenly broke into applause.

The chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court showed his hearty approval when Rep. Dudley Goodlette, R-Naples, said: "What's most important to us in this legislative process is that in 1998 it was not whether the citizens were right or not, it's that we had the best court system in the country. And our goal is to have the best court system in this country post July 1, 2004. That's the overarching goal, and we are going to accomplish that goal."

Court funding was the hot topic of the January 23 symposium in Orlando, revved by Revision 7 of Art. V, when 57 percent of Florida voters in 1998 agreed the state should take on much of the costs from the counties. The intent of the Constitution Revision Commission, as Anstead explained, was "built on the principle of idealism," so that justice could be more equal in all 67 counties, whether rich and urban, or poor and rural.

Six years later, that idealism in principle has turned into a crisis, where compromises are being made during crunch time as the mandated July 1 deadline looms. This legislative session, the clock is ticking on hammering out details and funding to carry out HBll3A, the huge 200-page blueprint passed in last year's special session.

"The irony would be if the court system is damaged," Anstead said, "when the revision to our constitution was intended to substantially improve court services in Florida.''

The chief justice has been traveling the state to spread the word about why everyone should care and he uses the word "crisis" to describe the current situation.

On this day, to a roomful of young lawyers, Anstead admitted: "I feel there still is a big gap in understanding the threat to the court system that exists."

Many members of the legislature and the governor, Anstead said, reacted to the court funding shift as "a budget buster. Half a billion to a billion dollars."

Through the work of State Courts Administrator Lisa Goodner and the Trial Court Budget Commission, chaired by Sixth Circuit Judge Susan Schaeffer, there has been much scrutiny of what everything costs for essential services to run the courts. That figure is down to $170 million to fund the scheme that was passed by the legislature last year.

"Obviously, we want to be sure we are accountable for every penny of that. But my goodness! We have come down to the most modest figure...