BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 648| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 648 Author: Jones-Sawyer (D) Amended: 6/24/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-1, 6/18/13 AYES: Evans, Corbett, Jackson, Leno, Monning NOES: Walters NO VOTE RECORDED: Anderson SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-24, 5/13/13 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Court reporters SOURCE : Judicial Council DIGEST : This bill requires for each proceeding anticipated to last one hour or less, the $30 fee to be charged only to the party, or parties if filing jointly, that filed the paper that resulted in the proceeding being scheduled. The bill requires the fee to be charged once per case for all proceedings conducted within the same hour if the total time taken by those proceedings is one hour or less. The bill provides for the deposit of the fees collected into the Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF); provides for the distribution of those fees back to the courts from which the fees were collected, and waives the fees for a person who has been granted a fee waiver. CONTINUED AB 648 Page 2 ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Requires, in relevant part, that an official reporter or official reporter pro tempore of the superior court take down in shorthand all testimony, objections made, rulings of the court, exceptions taken, arraignments, pleas, sentences, arguments of the attorneys to the jury, and statements and remarks made and oral instructions given by the judge or other judicial officer, in certain cases, including, among others, in a civil case, on the order of the court or at the request of a party. (Code Civ. Proc. Sec. 269.) 2.Establishes the TCTF. (Gov. Code Sec. 68085.) 3.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). The AOC must distribute those deposits as provided, with the remainder going to the TCTF. (Gov. Code Sec. 68085.1.) 4.Requires that for each civil proceeding lasting more than one hour, a fee equal to one-half day of services be charged to the parties, on a pro rata basis, and that the fees collected be used only to pay the cost for services of an official court reporter, as specified. (Gov. Code Sec. 68086(a)(1)(B).) 5.Requires that for that each civil proceeding lasting less than one hour, a fee of $30 be charged for the reasonable cost of services of an official court reporter, as specified. (Gov. Code Sec. 68086(a)(1)(A).) 6.Authorizes the granting of a court fee waiver to a litigant who cannot afford to pay the fee, as specified. (Gov. Code Sec. 68631.) This bill: CONTINUED AB 648 Page 3 1.Requires that for each proceeding anticipated to last one hour or less, a $30 fee be charged for the reasonable cost of the services of an official court reporter provided by the county, pursuant to Section 269 of the Code of Civil Procedure, as follows: A. The fee must be charged to the party, or parties if filing jointly, that filed the paper that resulted in the proceeding being scheduled; B. All parties paying the fee must deposit the fee with the court clerk as specified by the court, but not later than the conclusion of each day's court session; C. The fee must be charged once per case for all proceedings conducted within the same hour if the total time taken by those proceedings is one hour or less; D. If the total time taken exceeds one hour, the fee must be charged and collected pursuant to the provision governing fees for court reporters in proceedings anticipated to last more than one hour, as outlined above; E. The fee must be deposited into the TCTF and distributed back to the courts from which the fees were collected on a dollar-for-dollar basis; and F. The fee must be refunded to the remitting party or parties if no court reporting services were provided at the scheduled proceeding. 1.Requires this fee be waived for a person who has been granted a fee waiver pursuant to existing law, above. 2.Specifies that unless the court reporter is provided pursuant to court order, the party requesting the court reporter must pay the fee. 3.Makes other technical and clarifying amendments. Background Existing law requires that an official reporter or official reporter pro tempore of the superior court take down in CONTINUED AB 648 Page 4 shorthand all testimony, objections made, rulings of the court, exceptions taken, arraignments, pleas, sentences, arguments of the attorneys to the jury, and statements and remarks made and oral instructions given by the judge or other judicial officer, in specified cases. These cases include, among others, civil cases that are ordered by the court or requested by a party. Separately, existing law, with the enactment of AB 233 (Escutia and Pringle, Chapter 850, Statutes of 1997) consolidated all court funding at the state level, giving the Legislature authority to make appropriations and the Judicial Council responsibility to allocate funds to state courts. In doing so, it required that all court reporters fees collected by the trial courts be deposited into the TCTF, where nearly all court-collected fees are now deposited. The court reporter fees are then returned to the trial courts as part of their annual allocation and are distributed on a pro rata basis, as opposed to on the basis of the dollars collected. More specifically, the Government Code requires that certain fees be charged and be used to pay for the cost for services of an official court reporter in civil proceedings. In proceedings anticipated to last more than one hour, a fee equal to the actual cost of providing that service must be charged per one-half day of services to the parties, on a pro rata basis, for the court reporter services on the first and each succeeding judicial day those services are provided. All parties must deposit their pro rata shares of these fees with the court clerk as specified by the court, but not later than the conclusion of each day's court session. Last year, a budget trailer bill added that for each proceeding lasting less than one hour, a fee of $30 dollars must be charged for the reasonable cost of the services of official court reporters in civil proceedings, pursuant to that existing law, SB 1021 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, Chapter 41, Statutes of 2012). This bill seeks to provide specificity regarding the payment of that fee. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: CONTINUED AB 648 Page 5 Potential minor increase in fee revenue (Trial Court Trust Fund) due to the clarifying procedures established for court reporter fee assessment and collection. Minor, absorbable administrative costs to the trial courts to operationalize the clarified assessment and collection procedures. Minor, absorbable administrative costs to the Judicial Council related to the allocation of the fees to the individual courts. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/12/13) Judicial Council (source) California Court Reporters Association San Bernardino Public Employees Association San Luis Obispo County Employees Association ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "The 2012 public safety Budget Trailer Bill SB 1021 (Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, Chapter 41, Statutes of 2012) created a new $30 fee to be assessed against litigants for court reporter services in civil proceedings lasting less than one hour. The statute did not provide clear guidance, however, on how to implement this fee. The Judicial Council's Policy Coordination and Liaison Committee and the Joint Legislation Working Group of the Trial Court Presiding Judges and Court Executives Advisory Committees 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 for litigants on how this new fee will be assessed." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 49-24, 5/13/13 AYES: Alejo, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hall, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Torres, Weber, Wieckowski, CONTINUED AB 648 Page 6 Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NOES: Achadjian, Bigelow, Chávez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Fox, Beth Gaines, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Morrell, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson, Wagner, Waldron, Wilk NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Ammiano, Holden, Lowenthal, Medina, Salas, Vacancy AL:ej 8/13/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED