OCEA Stewards advocate for fair Court funding

Dear OCEA member, 

Each year during the month of January, OCEA members and staff travel to Sacramento for our annual “Legislative Advocacy Day.” On this trip, we would meet with our Orange County elected Assemblymembers and Senators to advocate for additional resources and support for the Orange County Superior Court system. The COVID-19 pandemic prevents us from traveling to Sacramento this year, but we have been able to continue our legislative advocacy virtually!

Today, OCEA Board members and OCEA Steward Mary Reynolds will join OCEA staff and our Legislative Advocate Pat Moran from Aaron Read and Associates via Zoom so we can provide lawmakers with your 2021/22 California state budget priorities. We all know that California trial courts, and Orange County Superior Court in particular, need and deserve more fiscal support. In the wake of COVID-19, OCEA members have endured furloughs, unsafe working conditions, and disrupted schedules, among many other challenges. We need relief and the state has the means to provide it!

We have some initial good news for Court workers with the unveiling of Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget last week. His spending proposal, which covers every aspect of California state government, includes continued increased funding for the Courts.

This preliminary budget is a good sign for the Judicial Branch, and includes additional funding for trial courts, funding to cover the COVID-19 backlog, and increased resources to programs that will directly help OCEA members. These developments mark the beginning of the budget adoption process (which will culminate in the adoption of a final budget in June) and the continuation of our efforts to secure an even larger allocation for trial courts.

Once that process is complete, the Judicial Council will review the trial court budget and determine funding levels for the state’s 58 trial courts.

Today, the OCEA team will push for more funding for the Courts in the proposed budget, and let our representatives know that this budget is a good start, but more work is needed. We will carry your voice to California legislators so they hear how underfunding Courts has negatively impacted front-line workers and impedes the public's access to justice.

Our requests are being echoed by other unions representing Court workers throughout the state. We will continue to work collaboratively with our union allies to advocate for a budget that helps Court workers.

If you have any questions, or would like to be more involved in OCEA Legislative Advocacy, please go to www.ocea.org/getinvolved.

In Solidarity,

Charles Barfield
OCEA General Manager

Publication Date: January 13, 2021