BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                          AB 973 (Campos)
          
          Hearing Date: 08/25/2011        Amended: 06/27/2011
          Consultant: Jolie Onodera       Policy Vote: Judiciary 4-0
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          BILL SUMMARY: AB 973 would require each trial court, prior to 
          adopting a baseline budget plan for the fiscal year, to allow 
          public input on the proposed plan by the submission of written 
          comments or by holding a public hearing, and would mandate 
          public input by both of those means on and after January 1, 
          2015. This bill would require a trial court proposing to close a 
          courtroom or close/reduce hours of clerks' offices to provide 
          the required 60-day advance written notice by electronic 
          distribution and to include in the notice information on how the 
          public may comment on the plan. This bill would require the 
          court to review and consider all comments received and provide 
          immediate notification of any plan changes.
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                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2011-12      2012-13       2013-14     Fund
           
          Public hearings, electronic     Cost pressure of $100 annually 
          through       General*
          notification, solicit/review    2016 
          public comments

          *Trial Court Trust Fund                           
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          STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
          
          Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council, as part of its 
          court budget process, to seek input from groups and individuals 
          as it deems appropriate. Further, existing rules of court 
          provide for the inspection and copying of judicial 
          administrative records, unless otherwise exempt. This bill would 
          require a trial court, prior to adopting a baseline budget plan 
          for the fiscal year, to provide the public with notice of the 
          plan and an opportunity for input by the submission of written 








          AB 973 (Campos)
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          comments  or  by holding a public hearing on the proposed plan. On 
          and after January 1, 2015, a trial court would be required to 
          allow public input by both the submission of written comments 
          and by holding a public hearing. This bill states that courts 
          are not obligated to provide responses to the comments presented 
          at the hearing or to written comments received. 

          Current law requires a trial court to provide written 
          notification to the public by conspicuous posting within or 
          about its facilities, on its website, and to the Judicial 
          Council not less than 60 days prior to closing any courtroom, or 
          closing or reducing the hours of clerks' offices during regular 
          business hours, as specified. This bill would require a trial 
          court to additionally provide the notice electronically to those 
          who have subscribed to the court's electronic distribution 
          service. Further, this bill would require the notice to include 
          information on how the public may provide written comments 
          during the 60-day period, and would require the court to 
          immediately provide notice to the public if its plan changes as 
          a result of comments received or for any other reason. The court 
          would be required to review and consider all comments received, 
          but would not be obligated to provide responses to the comments 
          received.

          The Judicial Council indicates trial courts will incur ongoing 
          administrative costs to hold annual public hearings and solicit 
          and review public comments as required by this measure. Total 
          increased costs are unknown but could be significant across all 
          of the State's trial courts. If each trial court expended up to 
          $2,000 annually to provide notice and conduct hearings, costs in 
          excess of $100,000 annually statewide could result. Although the 
          provision mandating public hearings is delayed until January 1, 
          2015, there would still be cost pressure on the courts, as 
          public hearings are still authorized although not required. 
          Given the staffing cutbacks incurred due to ongoing branch-wide 
          budget reductions, and the recently approved reduction of $350 
          million to the Judicial Branch budget for 2011-12 will place 
          additional pressure on trial courts to perform increased 
          workload with shrinking resources. Diverting staff to fulfill 
          these new requirements could have the unintended result of 
          impairing a court's ability to meet its existing obligations.

          The proposed amendments extend the provision requiring courts to 
          allow the submission of written comments or to hold a public 








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          hearing to January 1, 2017, and would delete the provision 
          mandating public hearings after January 1, 2015.