SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) -- Hundreds of California court employees spent their first mandatory day off without pay protesting the furloughs that will close the country’s largest court system one day a month.
Closing the courts once a month will save California almost $100 million over the next year, according to the state Judicial Council.
KCBS' Doug Sovern reports
The protesting clerks outside the council’s San Francisco headquarters said the state could spend save just as much money by postponing the construction of new courthouses and delaying technology upgrades.
“We don’t believe that the cost saving measures that they’re trying to impose warrant the drastic measures of closing down the court system statewide,” said Kim Palmer, a clerk in Santa Clara County.
She sees the furloughs as a basic access issue. “We’re all tax payers. We all want the same accessibility and we think it’s too drastic for the situation at the moment.”
Chief Justice Ronald George says the last thing he wants to do is interrupt trials and delay justice. He noted that some of the money for capital improvements had already been diverted to cover the loss of $400 million from Sacramento.
George called the furlough’s unfortunate, but said they would happen again on Oct. 21, Nov. 18 and every third Wednesday after that.
(jro)
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