Salt Lake City, Utah—Chief Justice Christine M. Durham and Utah State Court Administrator Daniel Becker released the following statement towards the close of the 2009 Legislative Session.
“On behalf of the judges and staff of the Utah court system, I would like to express our gratitude to the Utah Legislature for addressing the budgetary needs of the state court system,” said Chief Justice Christine M. Durham. “The courts budget was in large measure restored by the passage of legislation increasing filing fees. We appreciate how difficult the decision to raise filing fees was for the Legislature.”
At the start of the 2009 Legislative Session, the courts faced the prospect of closing courts one day a week and eliminating hundreds of court staff positions. According to Utah State Court Administrator Daniel Becker, “such drastic measures would have severely reduced the public’s access to their courts and resulted in considerable delay in handling the work of the courts.”
Chief Justice Durham added, “The public is the real beneficiary of legislative efforts to address the needs of our court system.”