BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 2882


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          Date of Hearing:  April 20, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          2882 (Committee on Judiciary) - As Amended March 29, 2016


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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY: This bill makes a number of non-controversial changes  
          to family law in California, including: 1) allowing conversions  
          of subordinate judicial officer positions to judges; 2) allowing  
          formerly incarcerated child support obligors to petition a court  
          to suspend arrears that had previously accrued during a  
          now-sunsetted pilot program; and 3) updating and making  
          technical corrections to marriage establishment, adoption, and  
          Department of Child Support Services enforcement provisions.


          FISCAL EFFECT:








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          1)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.



          2)Other costs are minor and absorbable. 
          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose.  This bill is the Judiciary Committee's annual  
            omnibus family law bill. It seeks to improve the handling of  
            family and juvenile law cases in our courts by making several  
            non-controversial changes to family law.





          2)Subordinate Judicial Officer Conversions. 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  








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            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. Since AB 2763 (Feuer) was signed in 2010,  
            the Legislature has ratified the conversion of SJOs to  
            judgeships four times: AB 1519 (Judiciary), Chapter 416,  
            Statutes of 2015; AB 2745 (Judiciary), Chapter 311, Statutes  
            of 2014; AB 1403 (Judiciary), Chapter 510, Statutes of 2013;  
            SB 405 (Corbett), Chapter 705, Statutes of 2011. This bill  
            seeks to provide the Judicial Council with that same  
            ratification for 2016-17.  Judicial Council supports this  
            portion of the bill.


           


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













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