BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 648 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 23, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY Bob Wieckowski, Chair AB 648 (Jones-Sawyer) - As Introduced: February 21, 2013 As Proposed to Be Amended SUBJECT : COURT REPORTER SERVICES: FEE IMPLEMENTATION KEY ISSUE : SHOULD CLEARER GUIDANCE BE GIVEN TO COURTS AND LITIGANTS ABOUT HOW THE COURTS MAY IMPLEMENT THE NEW $30 COURT REPORTING FEE, AUTHORIZED LAST YEAR, FOR PROCEEDINGS LASTING ONE HOUR OR LESS? FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed non-fiscal. SYNOPSIS Last year, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed legislation which created a new $30 fee to be charged to litigants for court reporter services in civil proceedings lasting less than one hour. According to the author, however, the statute did not provide clear guidance on how to implement this fee. This bill, sponsored by the Judicial Council, seeks to establish a number of specific rules for the implementation of the SB 1021 court reporting fee. Among other things, as proposed to be amended this bill provides that for any proceeding lasting one hour or less, the party that filed the paper that resulted in the scheduling of the proceeding shall pay the fee, and the fee shall be deposited with the clerk of the court as specified by the court, but not later than the conclusion of each day's court session. In addition, the bill requires the collected fees to be deposited into the Trial Court Trust Fund and distributed back to the courts in which the fees were collected on a dollar for dollar basis. The proposed amendments to the bill are the result of extensive collaborative discussion among a variety of stakeholders, including court executives and the Judicial Council, the plaintiff and defense bars, court reporters, and legal aid advocates. There is no known opposition to the bill as proposed to be amended, but the Judicial Council and stakeholders have expressed a strong commitment to continue to work on remaining issues, particularly the parameters of a potential refund process. AB 648 Page 2 SUMMARY : Establishes rules to implement the collection of the existing $30 fee for court reporting services in proceedings lasting one hour or less. Specifically, this bill : 1)Provides that for each proceeding lasting one hour or less, a single fee of thirty dollars ($30) shall be charged to the party or parties, if filing jointly, that filed the paper that resulted in the proceeding being scheduled. 2)Requires the fee to be deposited with the clerk of the court as specified by the court, but not later than the conclusion of each day's court session. 3)Provides that the fee shall be charged once for all proceedings per case conducted within the same hour if the total time taken by those proceedings is one hour or less, but if the total time taken exceeds one hour, then the fee shall be charged and collected pursuant to existing law governing the collection of fees for proceedings lasting more than one hour. 4)Requires the fee to be refunded if no court reporting services were provided at the scheduled proceeding. 5)Requires the fee to be waived for any person who has been granted a fee waiver under Government Code Section 68631. 6)Requires the fees to be deposited into the Trial Court Trust Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, distributed back to the courts in which the fees were collected on a dollar for dollar basis. EXISTING LAW : 1)Provides that for each proceeding lasting less than one hour, a fee of thirty dollars ($30) shall be charged for the reasonable cost of the services of an official court reporter. (Government Code Section 68086(a)(1)(A). All further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise noted.) 2)Provides that for each civil trial court proceeding lasting more than one hour, a fee equal to one-half day shall be charged, on a pro rata basis, to the parties. (Section 68086(a)(1)(B).) AB 648 Page 3 3)Provides that $30 of each of several specified civil filing fees be used for services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. Provides that this $30 is designed as an incentive for courts to use official court reporters in civil proceedings, but that nothing affects the Judicial Council's authority to allocate these funds to replace reductions in general fund appropriations to the Trial Court Trust Fund. (Section 68086.1.) 4)Requires that, among other fees, the fees collected by the trial courts for official court reporters be deposited in a bank account established by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). Requires the AOC to distribute those deposits as provided, with the remainder going to the Trial Court Trust Fund. (Section 68085.1.) 5)Provides that whenever a daily transcript is ordered in a civil case requiring the services of more than one court reporter, the party requesting the daily transcript must pay an additional specified rate and that such fee shall be distributed to the court to offset the cost of the additional reporter. (Section 69953.5.) 6)Requires the Judicial Council to report every year to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on specified fees collected for court reporters and the total amount spent by the courts for official court reporters. (Section 68086(c).) COMMENTS : Last year, the Legislature approved and the Governor signed SB 1021, Ch. 41, Stats. 2012, budget trailer legislation which created a new $30 fee to be assessed against litigants for court reporter services in civil proceedings lasting less than one hour. According to the author: The statute did not provide clear guidance, however, on how to implement this fee. The Judicial Council's Policy Coordination and Liaison Committee (PCLC) and the Joint Legislation Working Group of the Trial Court Presiding Judges and Court Executives Advisory Committees (JLWG) therefore recommend addressing the lack of specificity and resulting confusion to better enable courts to collect revenue from this new source. This proposal will streamline procedures and create sufficient flexibility and guidance for the courts and AB 648 Page 4 for litigants on how this new fee will be assessed. This bill, sponsored by the Judicial Council, seeks to establish a number of specific rules for the implementation of the SB 1021 court reporting fee. These rules were the result of extensive collaboration and discussion among a variety of stakeholders, including court executives and the Judicial Council, the plaintiff and defense bars, court reporters, and legal aid advocates. Background on Court Reporter Fees : In 1998, the Trial Court Funding Act (AB 233 (Escutia and Pringle), Chap. 850, Stats. 199) required that all court reporters fees collected by the trial courts be deposited into the Trial Court Trust Fund, where nearly all court-collected fees are deposited. The court reporter fees are then returned to the trial courts as part of their annual allocation. The fees are distributed to the courts on a pro rata basis and not based on dollars collected. Thus, while not all trial courts are aggressively charging and collecting the court reporter fees, all courts share equally (based on their pro rata share) in those collections. Before last year, fees to help cover the cost of maintaining official court reporters in civil courtrooms came from two sources. The initial civil filing fee includes $30 to cover the cost of court reporters. In addition, parties in civil proceedings are charged a fee for the services of an official court reporter for all proceedings lasting longer than an hour. With enactment of SB 1021 (Ch. 41, Stats 2012), parties in civil proceedings are now charged a $30 fee for the reasonable cost of the services of an official court reporter for each proceeding lasting one hour or less, rather than receiving reporting services essentially for free for the first hour. According to recent Judicial Council data, courts collect $21.5 million for court reporters from first paper filing fees and an additional $12.5 million from the fee for proceedings lasting longer than an hour, for a total of $35 million. The Judicial Council estimated that courts spent nearly $83 million on court reporters in civil proceedings last year, more than double what is collected from the specified fees. According to Judicial Council, since the fee became effective in late June 2012, the courts attempting to implement the fee have been following guidelines developed by the Administrative Office AB 648 Page 5 of Courts. (See "Frequently Asked Questions: Senate Bill 1021 (2011-2012 Regular Session" worksheet, AOC, July 9, 2012.) This bill represents the efforts of the author and Judicial Council to provide much-needed guidance on how to implement this new fee for proceedings lasting one hour or less. Who pays the new fee: As proposed to be amended, this bill provides that for any proceeding lasting one hour or less, the party that filed the paper that resulted in the scheduling of the proceeding shall pay the fee. If, however, three individuals jointly filed the paper together, then the bill clarifies that they should not be treated as three separate parties and each charged $30. Instead, the bill contemplates that only one $30 fee shall be charged to those individuals joined on the same side who filed the paper that resulted in the proceeding, and by extension, the party or parties on the opposing side shall not also be charged the fee. When the fee shall be paid : As proposed to be amended, this bill requires persons paying the fee to deposit the fee with the clerk of the court as specified by the court, but not later than the conclusion of each day's court session. Although in most cases it is expected the fee will be paid at the clerk's window at the time of filing, this rule is intended to allow some flexibility for later payment of the fee as long as it still occurs by the end of the same day of the court session. Limitations on charge of the fee . As proposed to be amended, this bill provides that the $30 fee shall be charged once for all proceedings per case conducted within the same hour if the total time taken by those proceedings is one hour or less. The proposed amendment is intended to clarify that payment of the $30 fee is not charged multiple times to the party for each individual proceeding that arises in the same case when all of those proceedings may be disposed of within the same hour. In cases where the court may be asked to rule on multiple "proceedings" (for example, motions in limine) that each take no more than a few minutes, the bill seeks to limit stacking of the fee for multiple short proceedings with unreasonable results. Otherwise, it is conceivable that one party is charged $30 for a single motion that takes 25 minutes to dispose of, while another party is charged $120 to hear four short motions in the same case that altogether only takes the court a total of 10 minutes to dispose of. The bill also provides that if the total time taken exceeds one hour, then the fee shall be charged and AB 648 Page 6 collected pursuant to existing law governing the collection of fees for proceedings lasting more than one hour. Refunds and waivers of the fee. As proposed to be amended, this bill requires the fee to be refunded if no court reporting services were provided at the scheduled proceeding. This reflects the simple principle that if no reporter services were rendered, then no fee should be paid. In courts where court reporters services are not or never have been provided, any collection of this fee would of course be inappropriate. Because in most cases it is expected the fee will be paid at the clerk's window at the time of filing, prior to the provision of any court reporter services, this provision will require the court to develop a process for refunding the fee in those cases where no services were ultimately provided-for example, where the court reporter unexpectedly could not attend due to illness or emergency. The Judicial Council and stakeholders have each expressed a strong commitment to continue to work on developing the parameters of a potential refund process as the bill moves forward. Finally, as proposed to be amended, this bill requires the fee to be waived for low-income persons who have applied for and been granted a fee waiver under Government Code Section 68631. Support if amended to remove intent language. Both the Bar Association of San Francisco- Family Law Section and the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists (ACFLS) submitted letters to the Committee taking a position of "Support If Amended" to delete legislative intent language in subdivision (g) of the bill, which they characterize as "extraneous" and "creating ambiguity in the Code." The author proposes to delete subdivision (g), but it is not known if either group supports the bill in light of the other proposed amendments. Prior Legislation: SB 1021 (Committee on Budget & Fiscal Review), Ch. 41, Stats 2012, was the 2012 public safety budget trailer bill that, among other things, established a $30 fee to be charged for the reasonable cost of the services of an official court reporter for each proceeding lasting less than one hour. AB 2076 (Ma) of 2012 would have increased the fees used to pay for the costs of court reporters and allow local courts to retain those fees, and required that those fees only be used for AB 648 Page 7 the provision of court reporters in civil proceedings, unless the court does not provide for court reporters in civil proceedings. The bill died in Senate Appropriations. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support Judicial Council of California (sponsor) Support if Amended (as introduced version) Association of Certified Family Law Specialists Bar Association of San Francisco- Family Law Section Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334