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Oregon

Actions Underway

• Chief Justice declared all state courts will be closed on Fridays beginning on Friday, March 13, 2009.  The closures will remain in effect at least through June 30, 2009. Before the courts were to close, the Legislature shifted $1.7 million to keep Oregon courts open on all but one Friday. However, court employees (does not include judges) still will have to take six unpaid furlough days.
• The closures are made necessary by- an $11.1 million General Fund reduction to the Oregon Judicial Department’s 2007-09 budget.
• If approved by the full legislature and signed by the governor, the cuts will require all department employees to take 16 unpaid furlough days before the end of June.
• The closures will affect over 12,000 trials and other proceedings already scheduled through June.  The closures threaten the courts’ ability to meet statutory deadlines in all cases and cause lengthy delays in resolving landlord/tenant, divorce, child support, child custody, and many other civil cases.
• More drastic reductions in court services were avoided when the legislature reduced proposed General Fund cuts to the court system from $16.1 million to $11.1 million.
• While saving the state about $3 million in staff salaries and benefits, the furloughs will cost the state about $5 million in reduced collections of court-imposed fees and fines in 2007-09.  Restitution for crime victims and funds for other state and county services also will be reduced.  Federal child welfare funds also might be affected if the courts cannot meet legal timelines to hear child welfare cases.
• The following documents HB 2877, HB 2877 Staff Measure Summary and HB 2877 Revenue Impact of Proposed Legislation (enter HB2877 in search box then click on Revenue Impact Statement 06/22/09) establish new fees and increase existing fees in Oregon's court system, and outline the revenue impactl.  The bill includes a sunset (which may be reset as it approaches) and sets up an Interim Committee to study court revenue and report back (Section 39).

Reports and Articles

• "Wacking Away at the Judicial Branch ." The Oregonian. July, 30 2009.
• Sanne Specht. "Accord Limits Courts' Closure to a Day." MailTribune.com. March 18, 2009.

Gavel to Gavel

• Database. Search the Gavel to Gavel legislation database based on state, year, legislation category, or any combination.

State Links

• Court Budget Web Sites
• Strategic Planning
• State Budgets for 2009
• State Budget Offices