521 Courts Workers did it!
California’s Assembly passed AB 1208 on Jan. 30, voting 41-23 for a bill that weakens the power of the judiciary’s central bureaucracy and ensures that trial courts receive the money they need to keep courts open and protect local jobs.
This bill was the best way to make sure every dollar allocated to the Judicial Branch is spent wisely.
What’s next? Call your senator and ask them to support AB 1208.
Unfortunately, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) has continued to make decisions that hurt the public. Like the costly IT boondoggle that will ultimately take away up to $3 BILLION from every other function of the Judicial Branch. Like the expansion of its central bureaucracy. Like the operating budget that has quadrupled since 1998. Even as our local budget gets slashed, theirs continues to grow—all while courtrooms across the state are closing or being reduced to skeletal staff.
But now, the California Assembly has taken notice, and they voted for AB 1208 to end the abuses. And the SEIU 521 members who traveled to Sacramento, along with court workers from up and down the state, to lobby for this bill can claim the credit.
Now’s not the time to rest on our laurels! The bill still must be passed by the Senate.
Can you call your senator and ask them to support AB 1208 and put the public first?
http://seiuca.seiu.org/page/s/courts-call
Read the news coverage:
- California court funding bill passes Assembly
- Assembly OKs bill to give local courts more power over spending
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