THE EFFECTS OF ongoing conflicts between the legislative and judicial branches of government have crossed the threshold of many courthouses in the state.

One of the most visible signs of the conflict will be the curtailment of security in the district courts – the result of the Legislature’s decision to cut funding for court security by 38 percent. In response, the Administrative Office of the Courts and NH District Court Administrative Justice Edwin W. Kelly abolished the positions of 66 part-time and temporary court security officers, offering to rehire them at a per diem rate of $65, consistent with the rate charged by the county sheriff’s department for bailiffs staffing the Superior Courts. Coping with the security budget cut will also require 10 percent fewer sessions in each of the district courts, which may result in layoffs of some of the court’s full-time security officers, Kelly said.

The security-related personnel and session reductions are only the first steps in a belt-tightening process that also will include coping with an appropriations level $9 million less than the court system requested for its biennial operating budget. "I expect further reductions in the courts’ schedules, and possibly more layoffs," Kelly warned. Meanwhile, there is an ongoing freeze on most hiring in the judicial branch, and attrition may reduce the number of layoffs necessary to meet the budget gap. (Information from the other courts and the Administrative Office of the Courts was not available at press time.)

"We are proceeding in phases so that we can have the opportunity to see what the impact of each step will be," Kelly said. "Our focus has been to try to find things we can do to reduce expenses that won’t affect staffing and services."

Starting September 15, the security budget cut will result in reductions in the number of security personnel in most district courts, said Kelly. At the busiest courts (Manchester, Nashua and Concord), the weapons screening station and the courtrooms in session will continue to be staffed by officers, but the roving patrol/relief officer position will be eliminated. In nine other busy but not full-time courts, one of two security officer positions will be eliminated, and it will be left to the discretion of the presiding judge where to assign the officer.

On Oct. 1, 2001, a 10 percent across-the-board reduction in court session days will be implemented in all courts, and half-day sessions will be eliminated. Kelly said that will produce additional delays; for example, while many criminal trials in the district courts are now heard 30 to 60 days after arraignment, fewer sessions may prolong that interval by another 30 days.

Kelly acknowledged that while half-day sessions have provided flexibility to a number of courts, the security budget constraints are forcing the court system to maximize use of personnel, and consolidating two half-day sessions into a single session is more economical.

In a lawsuit to block their firings, the affected officers contended that the Legislature’s action in cutting the district court security line-item – including a requirement forbidding any additional transfers to that line item – constituted "a budgetary end-run around" the 1998 Mone decision by the Supreme Court. The Mone decision ruled that the Legislature violated the separation of powers when it attempted to shift responsibility for district court security to the county sheriff’s departments. The rate of pay for part-time security officers was then established.

In an eleventh-hour decision, the Supreme Court refused a request to hear the guards’ petition for original jurisdiction, dismissing the case without prejudice, thus reserving an opportunity to hear the case again if it is appealed from the Superior Court.

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