BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 405| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: SB 405 Author: Corbett (D) Amended: As introduced Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-1, 03/22/11 AYES: Evans, Corbett, Leno NOES: Harman NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 05/26/11 AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner SUBJECT : Judgeships SOURCE : Judicial Council DIGEST : This bill ratifies the Judicial Councils conversion authority for the 2011-12 fiscal year relative to subordinate judicial officer positions (SJOs). ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that the Legislature shall prescribe the number of judges and provide for the officers and employees of each superior court. (Cal. Const., art. VI, Sec. 4.) Under existing law, the Legislature may provide for the trial courts to appoint officers such as commissioners to perform subordinate judicial duties. (Cal. Const., art. VI, Sec. 22.) Existing law also authorizes the courts to appoint CONTINUED SB 405 Page 2 subordinate judicial officers, and sets forth their duties and titles. (Gov. Code Sec. 71622.) Existing law permits the conversion of as many as 162 subordinate judicial officer positions into judgeships in eligible courts, not to exceed 16 conversions each fiscal year, based on specified criteria developed by the Judicial Council. (Gov. Code Sec. 69615.) Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to also convert annually, in eligible superior courts, up to 10 additional subordinate judicial officer positions to judgeships, upon vacancy, where the conversions will result in a judge being assigned to a family or juvenile law assignment previously presided over by an SJO. (Gov. Code Sec. 69615.) Existing law requires that these conversions must be ratified by the Legislature by statutory enactment other than the annual Budget Act. This bill ratifies the Judicial Council's authority to convert 10 SJO positions to judgeships in the 2011-12 fiscal year where the conversion will result in a judge being assigned to a family law or juvenile law assignment previously presided over by an SJO. This bill provides that this conversion shall be in addition to any action taken under existing law to convert up to 16 SJO positions per fiscal year to judgeships. Under current law, the Legislature is responsible for prescribing the number of judges and providing for the officers and employees of each superior court. (Cal. Const., art. VI, Sec. 4.) Existing law further permits the Legislature to provide for, and the courts to appoint, SJOs to assist the courts in carrying out their duties. (Id. at Sec. 22; Gov. Code Sec. 71622.) According to the Judicial Council, there are approximately 360 court commissioner positions in the state's trial courts. Responding to the shortage of judges available to handle the trial courts' workload, the Legislature has considered numerous bills over the last several years that would have established 150 new judgeships and authorized the conversion of up to 162 existing SJOs, limited to 16 per CONTINUED SB 405 Page 3 fiscal year, to judgeships upon vacancy. Largely due to the economic recession, however, just 50 new judgeships have been authorized and funded by the Legislature and Governor. In contrast, the Legislature and Governor have authorized the conversion of 16 SJOs to judgeships in each of the last four fiscal years (07-08, 08-09, 09-10, and 10-11). And, at the time of the writing of this analysis, language in the budget act will authorize an additional 16 conversions for fiscal year 11-12. Last year, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed AB 2763 (Committee on Judiciary, Chap. 690, Stats. 2010) which authorized the Judicial Council to convert up to 10 additional SJOs to judgeships each year, upon vacancy, if the conversion of these additional positions would result in a judge being assigned to a family or juvenile law assignment previously presided over by an SJO. Under AB 2763, that conversion must be ratified by the Legislature by legislation other than the annual Budget Act. This bill would ratify the Judicial Council's conversion authority for the 2011-12 fiscal year. Comments The expanding role of SJOs . California's trial courts have relied on SJOs for decades to assist in managing their workload. However, the perpetual shortage of authorized judgeships has prompted courts to assign SJOs as temporary judges. In this capacity, there is nothing "subordinate" about the role of SJOs in the judicial process. Increasingly, SJOs are performing some of the most complex and sensitive judicial duties, including core judicial duties such as adjudicating juvenile and family law cases. While SJOs must meet specified criteria for the job, SJOs are, unlike judges, selected by the courts and not subject to elections. As noted in the Judicial Council's letter of support for this bill, the use of SJOs as temporary judges is expansive: Over the years, in the face of few or no new judgeships being created, courts have had to hire SJOs simply to meet the demands of their workload. As a result, these SJOs have not simply been assigned to perform subordinate judicial duties, but in many cases CONTINUED SB 405 Page 4 they are assigned as temporary judges, possessing the full power of judges. The Judicial Council believes that family law and juvenile law cases, among the courts' most sensitive and often most complex, should be assigned to judges whenever possible. It has been estimated that SJOs spend an average of 55 percent of their time working as temporary judges, and in large courts, the number is more like 75-80 percent. In practice, many SJOs are de facto judges, but without the accountability to the public or the authority and independence the Constitution provides. According to the Judicial Council, the number of annual SJO vacancies created over the last three years has exceeded the number of conversions (16) it is authorized to annually execute. The Legislature's approval last year of AB 2763 recognized that allowing the Judicial Council to expedite the conversion of additional SJO positions to judgeships in eligible superior courts where the conversion would result in a judge being assigned to a family law or juvenile law assignment helped to ensure that more family and juvenile law cases would be heard by judges in the future. This bill would ratify that conversion for the 2011-12 fiscal year. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund Conversion of SJO position up to $300 annuallyGeneral* *Trial Court Trust Fund SUPPORT : (Verified 5/26/11) Judicial Council (source) Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar CONTINUED SB 405 Page 5 ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office: Seeking to improve the handling of family and juvenile law cases by increasing the likelihood that these matters are presided over by judges and not subordinate judicial officers, SB 405 (Corbett) ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to convert 10 subordinate judicial officer positions to judgeships in the 2011-12 fiscal year where the conversion will result in a judge being assigned to a family law or juvenile law assignment previously presided over by a subordinate judicial officer. For the past four years since the conversions of SJO positions began? more than 16 SJO vacancies occurred in courts eligible for conversion of these positions to judgeships. The annual cap of 16 conversions in each fiscal year has resulted in courts either keeping the vacancy for an extended period, impacting the ability to serve the public, or filling the vacant position with a new SJO, impacting the ability to convert positions consistent with the stated intent of the Legislature that these positions be converted to judgeships in order to ensure that critical case types, including family, probate, and juvenile law matters, can be heard by judges. RJG:nl 5/27/11 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED