Court Computer Controversy

By Mike Luery

Lawmakers on Tuesday ripped into the administrators responsible for California's Court Case Management System (CCMS). The system is millions of dollars over budget and years overdue. It is supposed to link court computers in all 58 California counties, but the state auditor warns it could fail, costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

"I see it as a train wreck and it has not worked at all," Steve White said on Tuesday, speaking before legislators as the Presiding Judge for Sacramento Superior Courts.

White was joined by members of the Alliance of California Judges, a group that has been highly critical of CCMS. http://allianceofcaliforniajudges.com/index.html

CCMS is a program at substantial risk of failure, State Auditor Elaine Howle testified.

"The costs are looking like at least $1.9 billion for this particular project," Howle said.

The computer project's costs were intended to be $260 million in 2004 – but have now mushroomed to nearly $2 billion. The program was slated to roll out in 2009, but now even the most optimistic supporters concede it won't be ready until at least 2015 – six years overdue.

"It's not clear what we're getting from all this," said Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, a Democrat from Long Beach.

"Here we have a good plot for a movie, Ground Hog Day Part Two/California buys another computer system," noted Senator Doug La Malfa, a Republican from Richvale.

Several users of the system came forward stating the system simply doesn't work.

"It is a system that takes three to five times as much time to do one process as our old system did," noted Gwen Jones Bethel, a technician with the San Diego Superior Court.

On the hot seat was the Administrative Office of the Courts.

"You heard the testimony today about a system that doesn't work, it is inefficient and one judge called it a train wreck. What is your response," this reporter asked William Vickrey of the AOC.

Vickrey responded, "Well you heard testimony from the courts that are using it about how successful it has been, giving access to the public and reducing workloads."

Judges in San Joaquin and Ventura Counties stated at the hearing they were supportive of the Court Case Management System, but justices in Sacramento and Los Angeles Counties have been very critical. Lawmakers say they want a cost-benefit analysis before spending any more money on the controversial system.

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