BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 1519


                                                                    Page  1





          Date of Hearing:  April 22, 2015


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                                 Jimmy Gomez, Chair


          AB  
          1519 (Committee on Judiciary) - As Introduced March 10, 2015


           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Policy       |Judiciary                      |Vote:|10 - 0       |
          |Committee:   |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
          |             |                               |     |             |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 


          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY: This Committee bill:


          1)Ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to convert 10  
            subordinate judicial officer (SJO) positions to judgeships in  
            2015-16, provided the conversion of these positions will  
            result in judges being assigned to family or juvenile law  








                                                                    AB 1519


                                                                    Page  2





            assignments previously presided over by a subordinate judicial  
            officer


          2)Clarifies that, in a legal separation proceeding, preliminary  
            disclosure declarations must be served on the other party  
            within the timeframe required in dissolution proceedings.   
            Allows the time periods to be extended by written agreement of  
            the parties or by court order.  


          3)Clarifies the duty of the Department of Child Support Services  
            with respect to prepaid card accounts, consistent with the  
            duty of the Employment Development Department issuing  
            unemployment compensation benefits and county treasurers  
            issuing public benefit payments.  


          FISCAL EFFECT:


          Annual costs of up to $300,000 for conversion of up to 10 SJOs  
          to judgeships.  For each conversion of an SJO position to a  
          judgeship, the additional annual cost, based on salary  
          differences between the two positions, is approximately $27,000.  
          The Judicial Council indicates that these additional costs will  
          be funded through a reallocation of monies in the Trial Court  
          Trust Fund.


           COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. This bill seeks to improve the handling of family and  
            juvenile law cases in our courts by making three  
            non-controversial changes to family law.











                                                                    AB 1519


                                                                    Page  3





          2)Background. According to the Judicial Council, SJO positions  
            were historically created and funded at the county level to  
            address courts' needs for judicial-like resources when new  
            judgeships were pending or not yet authorized by the  
            Legislature.  Unlike judges, SJOs are not directly accountable  
            to the public, but due to the shortages of judges, are  
            performing some of the most complex and sensitive judicial  
            duties.  Conversion of these positions to judgeships when they  
            become vacant makes them both more accountable to the public  
            and, the author contends, helps provide better trust and  
            confidence in the courts.

            AB 159 (Jones), Statutes of 2007, in addition to authorizing  
            50 additional trial court judgeships, authorized the  
            conversion of 162 SJOs to judgeships, with a cap of 16  
            conversions per year and subject to Legislative authorization  
            through the budget, which has occurred each year. On top of  
            these 162 positions, AB 2763 (Feuer), Statutes of 2010,  
            authorized conversion of an additional 10 SJO positions per  
            year to judgeships, but only to fill SJO vacancies in a family  
            law or juvenile law assignments in order to address shortages  
            of judges in these areas. (The Judicial Council and other  
            parties have identified family and juvenile law matters among  
            those that are of such a nature as to require judges, rather  
            than SJOs, to preside over them whenever possible.)





            This bill fulfills the requirement in AB 2763 that the  
            conversion of 10 SJOs be ratified by statutory enactment other  
            than the Budget Act. 





          3)Prior Legislation. Since AB 2763 (Feuer) was signed in 2010,  








                                                                    AB 1519


                                                                    Page  4





            the Legislature has ratified the conversion of SJOs to  
            judgeships three times:
             a)   AB 2745 (Judiciary), Chapter 311, Statutes of 2014.


             b)   AB 1403 (Judiciary), Chapter 510, Statutes of 2013.


             c)   SB 405 (Corbett), Chapter 705, Statutes of 2011. 





          Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081