BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 1403 (Committee on Judiciary) - Family law and conversion to
judgeships.
Amended: July 8, 2013 Policy Vote: Judiciary 6-1
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 12, 2013
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1403 would 1) make technical and clarifying
changes to the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) to codify case law,
and, 2) authorize the Judicial Council to convert 10 subordinate
judicial officer (SJO) positions to judgeships in 2013-14, if
the conversion would result in a judge being assigned to a
family law or juvenile law assignment, as specified.
Fiscal Impact: Annual costs of up to $300,000 (General Fund*)
for the conversion of 10 SJOs to judgeships, based on the salary
and benefit differential of the two positions. The Judicial
Council has indicated these costs will be funded through the
reallocation of funds in the TCTF.
*Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF)
Background: Existing law under the UPA provides a number of ways
a person may be legally considered a parent of a child, or to
establish a parent and child relationship. Subsequent to its
enactment, the UPA has been interpreted by the courts to apply
neutrally regarding gender (Elisa B. v. Superior Court (2005) 37
Cal.4th 108.), and has been used to determine parentage in cases
with surrogates and donors of genetic material. This bill would
update statutory terms within the UPA to conform to case law and
other statutory provisions.
Existing law authorizes the conversion of 162 SJO positions in
eligible courts to judgeships, upon vacancy, not to exceed 16
conversions each fiscal year. Additionally, Chapter 690/2010
authorizes the Judicial Council to convert up to an additional
10 SJO positions to judgeships each year, upon vacancy, to
eligible courts if the conversion of the positions would result
in the judge being assigned to a family law or juvenile law
AB 1403 (Committee on Judiciary)
Page 1
assignment previously presided over by an SJO. Existing law
requires the conversion of the 10 additional SJO positions to be
ratified by the Legislature through legislation other than the
annual Budget Act. This was done most recently by SB 405
(Corbett) Chapter 705/2011, which authorized the Judicial
Council to convert up to 10 SJOs to judgeships in 2011-12.
Proposed Law: This bill would codify case law with regard to the
UPA, and would make the UPA's provisions gender neutral, where
appropriate. Specifically this bill updates the following terms:
"Presumed father" would be changed to "presumed parent"
since that term is gender neutral and both a mother and
father can be a presumed parent.
"Father" and "mother" would be replaced, where
appropriate, with "parent."
"Insemination" would be replaced with "assisted
reproduction," as specified.
"Paternity" would be replaced, where appropriate, with
the term "parentage."
In addition, this bill:
Ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to
convert 10 SJO positions to judgeships in 2013-14, provided
the conversion of these positions will result in judges
being assigned to family or juvenile law assignments
previously presided over by SJOs.
Provides that above conversion shall be in addition to
the existing authority provided to convert up to 16 SJO
positions to judgeships.
Includes chaptering out provisions for SB 274 (Leno)
which proposes to amend two of the same sections of the
Family Code as this measure.
Related Legislation: SB 115 (Hill) 2013 would clarify that any
interested party may bring an action for the purpose of
determining a parent and child relationship at any time. This
bill is pending in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
SB 274 (Leno) 2013 would authorize a court to find that more
than two persons with a claim to parentage, as specified, are
parents if the court finds that recognizing only two parents is
detrimental to the child, and directs the court, in making this
determination, to consider all relevant factors, as specified.
This bill is on Second Reading on the Assembly Floor.
AB 1403 (Committee on Judiciary)
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Prior Legislation: SB 405 (Corbett) Chapter 705/2011 ratified
the authority of the Judicial Council to convert 10 SJOs to
judgeships in 2011-12.
Staff Comments: The Department of Child Support Services has
indicated the technical and clarifying changes to the UPA will
result in negligible fiscal impact.
The provisions of this bill do not increase the 162 total
conversions authorized under existing law, and the Judicial
Council has indicated that the maximum 16 positions authorized
per year have been converted for each of the last four years.
This bill will authorize an additional 10 SJO positions to be
converted to judgeships, upon vacancy, authorizing more family
and juvenile law cases to be heard by judges.
The annual cost difference (salary and benefits) between an SJO
and judgeship position is approximately $30,000 (General Fund).
By allowing up to 10 new conversions, this bill could result in
annual state costs of up to $300,000. The Judicial Council has
indicated the increased cost will be funded through a
reallocation of funds in the Trial Court Trust Fund.