Budget cuts are threatening the ability of a state commission to effectively investigate complaints against sitting judges, officials say.

The Judicial Qualifications Commission is comprised of a seven-member board of unpaid volunteers from the ranks of the Georgia’s legal profession.

Hall County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Chessher Oliver served as co-chairwoman of the commission until last month, when she retired from the board after six years of service.

The JQC, as it is commonly referred, is charged with looking into allegations of judicial misconduct, abuse of power and, at times, illegal activities among Georgia’s 1,800 judges in superior, state, juvenile, magistrate and probate courts.

In 2008, the JQC received 337 complaints, 37 of which were substantial enough to warrant investigations or hearings. Those included 11 allegations against magistrate judges and 14 complaints against superior court judges.

All of the complaints eventually were dismissed by the commission, though five resulted in private reprimands. The panel can recommend public reprimands or removal of a judge from office by the Georgia Supreme Court.

The complaints are kept confidential, though hearings are not. As of Friday, when the JQC met to discuss pending cases, 35 complaints were on the docket.

Cheryl Custer, the commission’s paid executive director, said the JQC’s fiscal year 2009 budget was cut by 11 percent in a wave of funding cuts at the statehouse prompted by a weak economy.

Custer said her two-person office has essentially been reduced to 1999 funding levels. Much of the $308,000 spent by the office in fiscal year 2008 was for hiring outside investigators and attorneys to investigate and prosecute complex cases. The commission does not rely on attorneys from the state Attorney General’s office and must pay for independent prosecutors.

The fiscal year 2009 budget for the commission is $257,000.

"It cuts into everything," Custer said of the reduction. "We are a two-person state agency with jurisdiction over approximately 1,800 judges in the state of Georgia."

Oliver was unavailable for comment this week.

Commission Chairman Ben Easterlin said the costs of investigating and prosecuting complaints against judges can vary widely from year to year.

"If we get into a situation where we have a serious investigation or have to bring a case to a hearing, the funding that results from an 11 percent cut will not be sufficient, unless we find another way to operate," Easterlin said.

Cuts to the budget could "adversely affect our ability to investigate complaints and strongly hamper our ability to prosecute cases," he said.

Easterlin said the commission has not yet had to defer or delay cases, but the cuts "have resulted in us telling our investigator to hold off until we see what we’re dealing with."

The cuts to the JQC budget aren’t the only funding shortfalls Georgia’s judicial system is grappling with. The state has also cut training budgets for judges and the funding of senior judges who fill in on the superior court bench.

Critics say the cuts could lead to a slowdown in cases being heard and public dissatisfaction with the judicial system.

"We understand the state funding difficulties and tend to cooperate with the state because everybody has to share the pain," Easterlin, an attorney, said. "But I do think the reductions in the judicial system are somewhat a case of spending a dollar to save a dime. Understanding all the demands on the legislature for funds in so many different areas, I still think the legislature would be wise to devote a larger percentage of the budget to the judiciary in lieu of some of the local projects that could be characterized as pork from time to time."