HELENA — Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath told lawmakers Thursday the state’s court system will start seeing a backlog of cases if its budget is further reduced during the legislative session.
In his fourth State of the Judiciary speech, McGrath told lawmakers that very lean budgets in recent sessions have led to inadequate training for staff and not enough personnel in certain departments. McGrath was elected to chief justice in 2008 after serving two terms as attorney general.
“Additional budget reductions will fall on the backs of an overworked local judiciary and inevitably result in delay and court backlogs,” he told a joint session of the House and Senate. “Of course, the losers under that scenario are your constituents, especially small business and working people.”
McGrath said the courts have done a good job managing resources by reducing costs for library and computer research, dues to national organizations and attorneys in child custody cases. He said the Supreme Court has implemented performance standards and their case load continues to be current with no cases over 6 months old. In district courts those standards are currently being put in place.
McGrath also touted the benefits of drug treatment programs as a way to reduce caseloads and thin prison populations. He advocated for retaining the statewide Court Help Program, which provides assistance to thousands of people navigating the courts without an attorney.
“Not all legal matters need attorneys,” McGrath said. “There are many ways we can simplify the process and provide people with helpful solutions.”
McGrath said analyzing and potentially changing district court boundaries to even out caseloads could also help with efficiency. A bill to be introduced this session would give lawmakers a chance to study the districts and recommend changes.
“We also hope that by making the court system more efficient and responsive to the public’s needs, we can avoid coming to you in a future session asking for more judges_something I do not want to do,” he said.
Courts throughout the state process 350,000 cases per year, or about one case for every three Montana residents.