BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE
Martha M. Escutia, Chair
2001-2002 Regular Session
ACA 15 A
Assembly Member Wayne C
As Amended April 2, 2002 A
Hearing Date: June 11, 2002
California Constitution 1
GMO:cjt 5
SUBJECT
California Constitution: Court Consolidation Cleanup
Amendments
DESCRIPTION
This bill would propose, by a vote of the people, to amend
the Constitution of the State of California to do the
following:
Delete from the Constitution references to municipal
courts, which have been eliminated by unification of the
trial courts into superior courts;
Delete from the Constitution a section that governs the
creation of municipal courts of the state and that allows
for the unification of municipal and superior courts into
one trial court;
Increase the membership of superior court judges on the
Judicial Council to 10, reflecting the total of 5
superior court judges and 5 municipal court judges
currently required by the Constitution;
Increase the membership of superior court judges on the
Commission on Judicial Performance to two judges of
superior courts, reflecting the total of one superior
court judge and one municipal court judge currently
required by the Constitution;
Delete from the Constitution the requirements for
eligibility to be a judge of the municipal court;
Repeal on January 1, 2007, the Constitutional provisions
relating to the transition period for the unification of
the superior and municipal courts.
(more)
ACA 15 (Wayne)
Page 2
BACKGROUND
The trial court system of the state underwent monumental
restructuring in the 1990's, beginning with the
Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act of 1997, when the
state assumed full responsibility for trial court funding.
This was followed by the Trial Court Unification Act, which
unified the justice courts, municipal courts, and superior
courts, and the Trial Court Employment Protection and
Governance Act (TCEPGA), which transferred control of trial
court employment to the courts. The Legislature has
steadily moved towards completion of the courts'
restructuring in order to improve achieve a better judicial
system.
In enacting TCEPGA, the last of the three major trial court
reform bills, the Legislature also directed the California
Law Revision Commission (CLRC) to study the statutes
affected by the two previous acts and to make
recommendations to the Legislature on repealing statutes
made obsolete by the trial court reforms.
The constitutional amendments contained in the bill are
pursuant to recommendations of the California Law Revision
Commission. This bill accompanies SB 1316, authored by the
Senate Judiciary Committee, which also contains
recommendations by the California Law Revision Commission
to amend or delete statutes made obsolete by trial court
restructuring.
CHANGES TO EXISTING LAW
The California Constitution provides for the creation of
municipal and superior courts in each county and for the
unification of such courts upon a majority vote of superior
court judges and a majority vote of municipal court judges
within the county.
This bill would delete references to municipal courts in
the Constitution, leaving only one superior court for each
county.
The California Constitution specifies membership of
municipal and superior court judges on the Judicial Council
ACA 15 (Wayne)
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and the Commission on Judicial Performance.
This bill would remove references to membership by
municipal court judges and add the required municipal court
judges membership to that provided for superior court
judges.
The California Constitution provides for the implementation
of an orderly transition from a trial court system using
municipal and superior courts to one that is unified under
a superior court.
This bill would sunset the above provision on January 1,
2007, which is five years from the date the last municipal
and superior courts were unified.
COMMENT
1. Need for the bill
The California Law Revision Commission was directed by
the Legislature to study and make recommendations
regarding statutes affected by the restructuring of the
trial courts. ACA 15 partially implements those
recommendations. SB 1316, the Committee's bill to clean
up obsolete statutes pursuant to trial court
restructuring, is the companion bill to ACA 15. SB 1316
is in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
2. Conflict with ACA 1 and SCA 14
ACA 15 would affect the same constitutional provision as
ACA 1 (Nation), relating to the election of judges of the
supreme court, courts of appeal and superior (and
municipal) court judges. ACA 1 would make all judges'
names appear on the ballot at the appropriate time
uncontested, with the question of whether the judge shall
be elected presented for a vote. ACA 1 is pending before
the Assembly Judiciary Committee.
SCA 14 (Burton) would propose changes to Sections 1, 5, 8
and 15 of Article VI of the constitution that are
identical to the changes proposed by ACA 15, but would
ACA 15 (Wayne)
Page 4
not affect the other changes proposed by this measure.
SCA 14 would propose other constitutional amendments
relating to judges, the Judicial Council and the
Commission on Judicial Performance. It is pending in the
Senate Judiciary Committee. It is anticipated that ACA
15 would place the proposed constitutional amendments on
the November 2002 ballot, and SCA 14 would make it on the
ballot for the following general election.
3. 2/3 vote needed
Article XVIII of the California Constitution provides
that all Constitutional Amendments be approved by a
majority of the voters. Passage of ACA 15 by two-thirds
vote of the Legislature is necessary to place the
proposed amendments on the ballot at the next election,
and the changes would take effect only if approved by
majority vote at that election.
Support: None Known
Opposition: None Known
HISTORY
Source: California Law Revision Commission
Related Pending Legislation: SCA 14 (Burton) See Comment
2; ACA 1 (Nation) See Comment 2
Prior Legislation: SCA 4 (Lockyer), Res. Chapter 36,
Statutes of 1996, provided
for the consolidation of superior courts
and municipal court
upon the approval by majority vote of the
judges of the
superior court and majority vote of the
judges of the
municipal court of each county. The voters
approved the
ACA 15 (Wayne)
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constitutional amendment on June 2, 1998.
Prior Vote: Asm. Jud. (Ayes 12, Noes 0);
Asm. E.R.& C.A. (Ayes 5, Noes 0);
Asm. Flr. (Ayes 72, Noes 0)
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