Murray: "I think it's owed to the public and those communities that would be impacted what those specific dollar savings will be."
Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray urged legislators at the Statehouse on Tuesday to approve Gov. Deval Patrick's bill to lower the costs of municipal health insurance, saying it would respect union bargaining rights and provide financial relief to cities and towns.By KYLE CHENEY
BOSTON – Lt. Gov. Tim Murray called Wednesday for a cost-benefit analysis of a slew of court closings proposed Tuesday by the state’s top two judges, escalating a dispute between the executive and judicial branches over access to justice and the governor’s power to fill vacant judgeships.
“I think it’s owed to the public and those communities that would be impacted what those specific dollar savings will be in closing that and the costs associated with relocating,” Murray told reporters after chairing a meeting of the Governor’s Council, the eight-member elected body that votes on Gov. Deval Patrick’s judicial nominees.
Murray agreed with Patrick’s chief legal counsel, Mark Reilly, that a call by Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Roderick Ireland and Judge Robert Mulligan, the top administrator of the Trial Court, to halt all judicial nominations was “perplexing.” He said “several” senior judiciary officials had been lobbying the administration as recently as last week to fill judicial vacancies.
“Clearly there’s an inconsistent message that’s coming from the courts in terms of what they think should or shouldn’t happen with judicial vacancies or clerk magistrates. We’re hearing different things,” Murray said, adding, “There’s a mixed message coming out of the judicial leadership … They all need to get in a room and figure it out. I guess that’s my advice to them.”
Judiciary leaders have warned throughout 2011 that further budget cuts would lead to dire consequences.
Roderick IrelandIreland and Mulligan, in a Tuesday letter to Gov. Patrick, urged him to halt further judicial nominations, contending that it would ease a funding crisis facing the courts, exacerbated by a $24 million budget cut Patrick signed into law this week. They also suggested that a dire budget crisis would force them to close and relocate 11 of their 101 courthouses. Among the courts marked for closure are the Charlestown Division of the Boston Municipal Court, located in the district of Rep. Eugene O’Flaherty, co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
According to the proposal, the judges would move:
• Berkshire Juvenile Court to Northern Berkshire District Court in North Adams;
• Framingham Juvenile Court to Marlborough District Court;
• Gloucester District Court to Salem District Court;
• Hingham District Court to Brockton District Court;
• Leominster District Court to Clinton District Court / Fitchburg District Court;
• New Bedford Housing Court to New Bedford District Court or to Fall River Durfee Courthouse;
• Norfolk Juvenile Court (Dedham) to Brookline District Court;
• Wareham District Court to Plymouth District Court;
• Westborough District Court to Worcester District Court; and,
• Westfield District Court to three western Massachusetts courts.
Patrick signed the $30.6 billion state budget Monday, allocating $519 million for the judiciary – a $24.2 million reduction from the previous fiscal year. The judges also argued that certain assumptions about court revenue were "not obtainable," resulting in an additional $10 million reduction to the court's funding. The result, they argued, is a fourth straight year of budget reductions in the Trial Court, bringing the system $95 million below its peak funding level of $605 million.
Murray told reporters that if the judges intend to close courts, they should provide a detailed analysis.
“If there’s going to be decisions about closing courts – and we understand belt-tightening has to occur, we’ve been doing it, everyone has to do it – consistent with them suggesting those courts have to be closed, they should release the figures as to what the actual savings would be,” he said.
Senate President Therese Murray said Wednesday that certain courts – including one adjacent to her district – “have to be closed.”
“We’ve known that there’s going to be a move toward that,” she said. “Particularly in Plymouth County, there’s less of a need for a Wareham District Court.”
Therese MurrayThe debate between the executive and judicial branches could be impacted by negotiations among lawmakers on competing bills to overhaul the court system’s bureaucracy and state hiring practices.
The Senate version of the bill would require the chief justice of the Trial Court – along with a newly installed civilian administrator – to submit a report to the Legislature “90 days prior to the temporary closure or the temporary relocation of courthouses” and include in that report details about “the transfer of personnel, the reallocation of resources, the impact on other courthouses resulting from the temporary closure of said court and other factors that may affect implementation of said temporary closure.”
The bills (H 3395 / S 1911) also differ over whether to grant Trial Court administrators the unilateral ability to transfer funds among court departments. The House bill is more restrictive, permitting administrators only to transfer funds within Trial Court subdivisions, while the Senate’s version would allow funds to be moved from one subdivision to another.
Christopher Iannella, one of eight Governor’s Councilors who vote on Patrick’s judicial nominees, said the idea of a moratorium on nominations was “a real good idea.”
“I think it’s a good idea. I think it’s a real good idea. Some of these appointments, whether they’re clerk magistrates or judicial appointments, some of them – not all of them – they haven’t been filled for years,” he said. “Depending on the jurisdiction, I don’t think there’s any reason to fill it.”
Iannella, a Boston Democrat, allowed that certain courts – like the Dorchester District Court and Boston Municipal Court within his district – are busy enough that they should be fully stocked with judges.
Top judiciary officials warned lawmakers this year about the possibility of dire consequences if their budgets were cut further in fiscal 2012. In addition to longer case clearance rates, Mulligan warned in February that court sessions had been delayed due to a lack of court officers, creating a "potentially dangerous situation for court employees, judges and the 42,000 members of the public who visit our court divisions each day."