Jury bill signed; other court programs still lacking
Funds are expected to fall short for child abuse, neglect cases
SANTA FE — Jury trials around New Mexico will go on without interruption through June, after Lt. Gov. John Sanchez signed into law Thursday a measure providing roughly $1.6 million in emergency funding.
The signing of the emergency funding bill ends — at least for now — a political tug of war over court dollars punctuated by Gov. Susana Martinez’s vetoes of two previous proposals.
However, the cash-strapped court system still faces other budget trouble spots, including an estimated $585,000 shortfall over the next four months for a fund that pays court-appointed attorneys to represent children and indigent adults in child abuse and neglect cases.
In his State of the Judiciary address to lawmakers last month, Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Daniels said the shortfall in the court-appointed attorneys fund could lead to children having to remain longer in foster care before being placed in
permanent family homes.
“This results in not only a great taxpayer cost but a great human cost to the children and future consequences that can’t be calculated in dollars and cents,” Daniels said.
Sarah Jacobs, the New Mexico courtappointed attorney program manager, said Thursday that an increase in child abuse and neglect cases in recent years has put a financial strain on the courts.
“Since cases have continued to rise, it puts us in a rough situation,” Jacobs told the Journal.
State law requires that all children and parents have legal representation in child abuse and neglect cases.
In the 2016 budget year, 120 attorneys provided representation on 1,464 abuse and neglect cases, according to data from the Administrative Office of the Courts.
If no money is provided, the courtappointed attorneys fund is expected to run out of money in May, said Barry Massey, the communications officer for the Administrative Office of the Courts.
Under such a scenario, all child abuse and neglect cases would either have to be halted or payments for court-appointed attorneys would have to be delayed until at least July, when a new budget bill would take effect.
No decision has been made yet on which of the two routes the courts would take, Massey said Thursday.
A $6.1 billion budget plan approved this week by the House contains $200,000 in supplemental, or immediate, funding for the court-appointed attorneys fund, or only about one-third of the requested amount.
The courts now plan to ask the Senate Finance Committee, which is considering revisions to the House-approved plan, to add $385,000, Massey said.
Rep. Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, who works as a court-appointed attorney, said Thursday that a delay in cases could impose a greater burden on other agencies, specifically the Children, Youth and Families Department.
“If you don’t have adequate representation and the law isn’t followed, it ends up costing a lot of money to other departments,” Chasey said in an interview.
New Mexico’s court system, like most other state programs and agencies, has faced recent budget cuts due to lower-thanexpected state revenue collections.
The shortfall in the jury fund has received the most attention during this year’s 60-day legislative session, with court officials warning of a “constitutional crisis” in the case of jury trials having to be halted due to a lack of funds.
Martinez has criticized the Democraticcontrolled Legislature for not examining ways to reduce court spending, though the $1.6 million in the bill approved Thursday is the same amount the courts asked for late last year to address the projected shortfall in the jury fund.
In a message Thursday to House members, Martinez said her administration had worked with the courts to ensure the entire amount was needed.
“During a ‘constitutional budget crisis,’ as representatives of New Mexicans throughout the entire state, we must make sure that we are properly expending taxpayers’ hard-earned money,” Martinez wrote.
She also said she asked Sanchez to sign the bill, as she was traveling to Washington, D.C., on Thursday to attend national governors meetings.
Top Democrats have been critical of Martinez during the court funding debate, with some accusing her of trying to starve the court system.
The two-term GOP governor, a former prosecutor, vetoed two court funding proposals approved earlier this year by lawmakers, then called an emergency meeting of the state Board of Finance to address the issue.
At the meeting, the Board of Finance signed off on giving up to $600,000 to the court system to keep jury trials going through mid-April, though that money will be paid back with House Bill 261 being enacted Thursday.
The bill took effect immediately upon being signed. It also includes $80,000 to avoid planned employee furloughs at the state Supreme Court.
In all, the judicial branch’s total budget makes up a little less than 3 percent of total state spending.
“DURING A ‘CONSTITUTIONAL BUDGET CRISIS,’ AS REPRESENTATIVES OF NEW MEXICANS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE STATE, WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT WE ARE PROPERLY EXPENDING TAXPAYERS’ HARD-EARNED MONEY. GOV. SUSANA MARTINEZ ”