The Florida Supreme Court has approved a 2023-24 judicial branch budget request that includes tens of millions of dollars for salary increases and $50 million to build a courthouse for the newly created Sixth District Court of Appeal.
The state’s Trial Court Budget Commission recently formalized the budget requests, which include $22 million for pay hikes for court reporters, interpreters and attorneys, plus $5 million to retain and recruit attorneys. The funding requests come as court officials report a larger-than-normal number of vacant positions due to pandemic-related employee resignations.
An identical proposed capital outlay for the new courthouse was vetoed earlier this year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who at the time expressed spending concerns amid rising inflation.
“It’s the exact same request and proposal that was approved by the Legislature last year,” Paul Flemming, the state Supreme Court’s spokesman, told the Florida Record. He added that DeSantis signed legislation into law that created the new Sixth District.
The Sixth District will be up and running by January, according to Flemming, who said that a Judicial Nominating Commission for the district was moving to fill job openings. The new appeals court district was created to boost citizen trust in the court system and to ensure that the state’s appeals courts continue to effectively correct errors and uphold citizens’ rights and liberties, court officials have said.
The Sixth District will be composed of the Ninth, 10th and 20th Judicial Circuits.
Also included in the budget request is funding to address the remaining backlog of court cases resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, Flemming said.
“There is, of course, and continues to be a pandemic-generated workload that represents that backlog,” he said, adding that many of the remaining cases are more complex and will take time to resolve. “... The pace of progress has slowed a bit, and again I would emphasize that’s as expected.”
State lawmakers will take up the funding request when they convene in March of next year.