Overview

• Oklahoma's court system is primarily state funded.  The state pays the salaries of the trial court and appellate judges and their staff.  District court clerks and their staff are county employees; however, some deputy court clerks are paid out of local court funds.
• Oklahoma’s appropriation was increased from $95.4 million in FY11 to $99 million in FY12.  They will be able to maintain the same number of judges and staff and will be able to increase the amount spent on operating costs.
• To reduce spending, the Oklahoma courts have delayed filling judicial vacancies, and delayed filling vacancies in the clerk’s offices and in judicial support positions.  They have reduced use of retired judges.  The salaries of judges and staff have been frozen.  In addition, clerks must pay additional operating expenses out of their revolving funds.  These changes have required that some judicial branch personnel assume more work.  For the most part, court services have not been adversely affected. 
• The Oklahoma courts have implemented e-citations and are now working diligently on developing a new case management system that will allow all court to adopt e-filing, an electronic document management system and e-payment of fees and fines.  They expect that the system will provide greater public access and reduce costs for court users and the public at large.
• In FY12, the Oklahoma judiciary will be adopting a number of policy changes and rules changes needed to implement their e-filing system, including the availability of court records to litigants and to the public on-line.

Reports and Articles

• Joy Hampton.  "Courts on the Ropes are Losing Budget Battle."  Edmund Sun.com. January 21, 2011.
• Barbara Hoberock.  "State Appeals Court Likely to Furlough, Lay Off Staff."  Tulsa World. April 4, 2010.

Gavel to Gavel

• Database. Search the Gavel to Gavel legislation database based on state, year, legislation category, or any combination.