Humboldt Superior Court loses $18,000 being a "donor court" but gains funding for a new case management system allowing better access to public records

So far, despite losing $18,000 in the latest state budget, the Humboldt County Superior Court is not planning to cut any services, according to Humboldt County Superior Court CEO Kim Bartleson.
However, pre-scheduled vacations or the need to pull staff to cover courts if case loads increase can affect the amount of people working at other positions.

For example, if the state passed more legislation that resulted in the number of  court cases increasing but not provide funding for staff; court coverage gets priority.

Humboldt Superior Court is a "donor court." Five years ago, the California Judicial Council developed a method where some courts have to give money to other courts based on certain criteria. Humboldt Superior Court relies on grants and local revenue for some of the budget.

The loss of the $18,000 is somewhat  alleviated by Governor Jerry Brown's decision to fund a new case management system. The money has been given to Humboldt Superior Court. There is a process to be implemented; work will begin on this new case management system and it is expected that people will be able to access court records from home that now can only be accessed on the second floor. What can be accessed will still remain the same; the public does not have access to confidential information and what can be viewed meets legal requirements.

I had reported on this change a while back and also that Ms. Bartleson was working on a third computer for public access. That will be located in the law library.

Law Librarian Stephanie Richter told me that approval has been granted by the Courts and Humboldt County Board of Supervisors. Court IT and County IT are working on the logistics.

When that third computer will be up and running is information not available at this time.