BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 648
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          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.








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           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).)








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          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  








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               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  








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          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  








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          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  








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          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