LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With the Judicial Council of California deciding late last month that it would stop the deployment of an expensive and controversial case management software system, local courts are not yet sure what alternatives for sharing data may be available in the future.
The Judicial Council voted to stop the California Court Case Management System (CCMS) deployment at a special March 27 meeting.
“The council’s decision to stop deployment of CCMS was responsible and prudent in view of our budget situation and the facts we gathered on the actual costs of deployment. CCMS works. Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to deploy it,” said Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye.
The Judicial Council indicated the project stoppage was necessary in response to the state cutting $350 million from trial courts statewide in this fiscal year and taking $310 million from the courthouse construction fund, which is funding a new Lakeport courthouse.
Additionally, since the 2008-09 fiscal year state judicial branch funding has been cut by $653 million, which has resulted in layoffs, reduced hours and courtroom closures, the state said.
The state’s budget problems have led to the Lake County Superior Court having its budget reduced by 12 percent since the 2009-10 fiscal year. In the current fiscal year the county’s courts experienced a $300,000 budget reduction, as Lake County News has reported.
“We were way down the list on getting it,” Lake County Superior Court Executive Officer Mary Smith said of the CCMS rollout.
Smith said the local courts supported the program, and she was disappointed to see it go away.
“The concept of it, it’s really good,” she said.
But despite support in some quarters, the CCMS system has been the source of growing controversy due to its expense and questions about whether the system offered all of the needed solutions.
An independent audit showed that $333 million already has been spent on the system, with $343 million needed for one-time supporting costs to deploy it to 11 courts.
The Alliance of California Judges has been one of the project’s most vocal critics, offering a $550 million figure for how much has actually been spent on it.
After the Judicial Council’s vote the alliance said it was concerned that the state hadn’t completely abandoned the CCMS system, and it called for an investigation “to determine whether the public is entitled to any reimbursement for the over $500 million that has been wasted.”
The group – which is seeking budget language to ensure that the CCMS system is completely terminated and the funds go to trial courts – added in its statement, “Furthermore, those responsible for this debacle must be identified and appropriate action taken so that the judicial branch is protected in the future.”
The Legislative Analyst’s Office said terminating the CCMS project will reduce spending by $46 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year, and the Judicial Council will receive a one-time $16 million cash payment from the CCMS product vendor as compensation for numerous product quality issues which resulted in a 10-month project delay.
The agency recommended that the Legislature direct the Administrative Office of the Courts to transfer the $62 million to be gained through savings and the compensation directly to trial court operations to help deal with the budget cuts to the courts.
Seeking technology solutions
The CCMS system, conceived in 2001, was meant to offer trial courts around California with a single, statewide case management system to replace 70 individual case systems in use among the California courts.
“We’re kind of in the dark ages and technology is really expensive,” said Smith.
The Judicial Council said the system’s concept was to improve public safety and business efficiencies by enabling trial courts to exchange information with each other and with law enforcement, and to improve information access to attorneys and the public.
With the CCMS system now no longer on track, at the March 27 meeting the Judicial Council directed its CCMS Internal Committee, in partnership with the trial courts, to develop timelines and recommendations to find other ways to use the CCMS technology and the state’s investment in the software system, the council reported.
As part of that process, the committee has been directed to develop new strategies to assist courts with failing case management systems.
The committee also is tasked with creating timelines and recommendations for providing technology solutions that can improve improve court operations – including maximizing use of newer technology like e-filing and e-delivery – for the courts, litigants, attorneys and the public.
Further, the committee must establish a technology governance structure to implement those technology solutions.
The Lake County Superior Court uses a court case management system by Sustain Technologies Inc., which is owned by the Daily Journal Corp.
The company’s Web site said its clients in California include, in addition to Lake, the superior courts for Tulare, Merced, Humboldt, Monterey, San Benito, Plumas, Madera and Sierra counties.
Smith said the local courts aren’t sure of what system will be available to replace CCMS.
“The public needs better access to this data,” Smith said.
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