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Critical Audit Blasts Adminstrative Office Of The Courts

By Mike Luery

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- A costly computer system has outraged some trial court judges. They say it's a money pit that's forcing courts to close.

A highly anticipated audit released today provides even more ammunition.

State Auditor Elaine Howle blasted the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC),  the agency that carries out the official actions of the Judicial Council.

The audit sent shockwaves across California courtrooms – by asserting the state's Court Case Management System (CCMS) is poorly run, poorly managed and costing taxpayers well over a billion dollars.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Maryanne Gilliard told CBS 13, "Based on this audit alone this project should be absolutely stopped."

Judges say they're outraged that CCMS is years behind schedule – and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

State Auditor Elaine Howle blasted the AOC for poor management. She found:

  • The AOC gave inaccurate cost estimates for CCMS. The initial $260 million price tag in 2004 has now mushroomed to $1.9 billion today.
  • Judges in Los Angeles and Sacramento Counties hate the computer system so much, they won't use it.
  • The AOC failed to disclose the true costs to the Legislature, according to the audit.

Elaine Howle told CBS 13, "It could potentially be hundreds of millions of dollars more for each of the individual courts to roll the system out. For the state to recoup its investment in this, if we're using the $1.9 billion dollar number, it would take over 24 years."

That's nearly a quarter of a century to get savings from a computer system that many judges say is riddled with problems.

"Because it doesn't work," said Judge Steve White. The Presiding Judge of Sacramento Superior Courts told CBS 13, "We had to hire 27 more people just to process the additional paperwork that wasn't involved in the installation of this project in Sacramento. It has slowed down our operation. We have lines of 5 hours long at some of our courthouses."

The Administrative Office of the Courts issued a response.

The statement from William Vickrey, Administrative Director of the Courts says in part, "Most of the findings in the report refer to past practices in the oversight of the project. We have already fulfilled a number of key recommendations: We have increased Judicial Council oversight of the project; expanded the participation of justices, judges, court administrators, attorneys and justice partners; and created a project management office. We are also very close to completing an independent cost-benefit analysis."

But that isn't good enough for the Alliance of California Judges, a group that's been highly critical of the CCMS project. Members are now saying it may be time to pull the plug.

"It's an unfair situation when we are closing our doors to the public and spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a computer system that does not function well. And so our message is you are not alone, public. We are with you. We are standing with you. We want your courts to remain open and if that means this disastrous computer system gets shut down, then it gets shut down," Judge Maryanne Gilliard told CBS 13.

The AOC knows it has a big battle ahead involving escalating costs – and an open revolt from trial judges across California. The CCMS contract was amended 102 times, according to the audit. The CCMS project was supposed to connect court computers across California two years ago, but now project managers admit it will completed in 2015 at the earliest.

If you have a story idea for On The Money, send us an e-mail to onthemoney@kovr.com. You can also follow On The Money stories in progress via Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/mikeluery.

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