Retired Florida State Senator Victor D. Crist

Early release for prisoners? Eliminating the Florida Department of Law Enforcement?

Those are the kinds of stark choices that Florida could face if lawmakers expose the justice system to more drastic cutbacks this year, Sen. Victor Crist warned Thursday.

Florida faces a hole of $3 billion or more in the portion of its budget that is funded with tax dollars and other recurring state revenue. The state’s justice system, like education and health care, relies heavily on those $22 billion in recurring dollars.

Typically, lawmakers try to spread cutbacks as evenly as possible across program areas, said Crist, R-Tampa, chairman of the Senate’s Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee. However, after cutting the total state budget, now $66 billion, by $6 billion over two years, this year’s shortfall is too big for that, he contended. Distributing cuts evenly would mean a $534-million reduction to the justice budget alone.

Operating expenses for the judicial and criminal justice systems total about $5.2 billion, of which $3.6 billion is recurring revenue. Crist said lawmakers are considering any and all policy changes that could yield savings, from increasing the number of prisoners in work release programs to authorizing furloughs for employees.

FDLE Commissioner Gerald Bailey proposed creating a Web site for his agency and others to post legal notices rather than spending the money to advertise them in newspapers. “I’m sure the newspapers wouldn’t like it, but it would save the state, the cities and the counties a lot of money.”

Crist said he was gratified on Thursday to see programs and departments taking a “we’re in this together” approach, offering to collaborate and share resources. However, there remains “a critical situation in this committee – or there will be, if the budget allocations are just evenly distributed and not prioritized this year.”

Prison costs claim roughly two-thirds of the budget that Crist’s justice committee oversees. If Florida cuts its prisons budget much more than it has in recent years without making some major policy changes to the corrections system, it could trigger early releases of prisoners “where the feds come in and just open the doors and start putting offenders back on the streets,” Crist said.

The second-largest portion of the justice budget is courts, which likewise has been “cut to the bone,” he said. The state increased myriad court fees last year to make sure the courts remained open. Senate President Jeff Atwater already has announced he will not consider additional fee or tax increases this spring.

State courts administrator Lisa Goodner said last year’s court fee increases are providing necessary revenue. There are ways the courts can do at least some things “better, faster, cheaper,” she said. After $44 million in cuts in the past two years, “we would be very, very concerned about additional staffing losses. We’ve lost 300 positions over that period.”

If the state shields prisons and courts from heavy cuts, the rest of the justice system – including the Department of Law Enforcement, Guardian ad Litem and juvenile justice programs – will have to absorb the reductions.

Since those other justice programs cost $568 million annually, and a proportionate budget cut for the justice system would be $534 million, “that doesn’t leave you much to fund anyone else,” Crist said.

Committees in both chambers are going through budgeting exercises this month, but the heads of those panels may not find out how much they will be able to spend on the programs before March, when the Legislature’s spring session begins. Crist said he’s talking now with Atwater and other leaders to make sure they’re aware of the high stakes involved in cutting justice spending.

Rep. Sandy Adams, chairman of the House’s criminal and civil justice budget committee, declined to speculate about the impact of cuts, saying it’s too early in the process.