BILL ANALYSIS
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THIRD READING
Bill No: ACA 15
Author: Wayne (D)
Amended: 4/2/02 in Assembly
Vote: 27
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/11/02
AYES: Escutia, Ackerman, Haynes, Kuehl, Peace, Sher
SENATE CONST. AMENDMENTS COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/24/02
AYES: Haynes, Bowen, O'Connell, Sher
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 72-0, 5/9/02 (Passed on Consent) - See
last page for vote
SUBJECT : California Constitution: court consolidation
cleanup
amendments
SOURCE : California Law Revision Commission
DIGEST : This constitutional amendment would propose, by
a vote of the people, to amend the Constitution of the
State of California to do the following:
1. Delete from the Constitution references to municipal
courts, which have been eliminated by unification of the
trial courts into superior courts.
2. 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
CONTINUED
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courts into one trial court.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Delete from the Constitution the requirements for
eligibility to be a judge of the municipal court.
6. Repeal on January 1, 2007, the Constitutional provisions
relating to the transition period for the unification of
the superior and municipal courts.
ANALYSIS : 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
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.
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This measure would sunset the above provision on January 1,
2007, which is five years from the date the last municipal
and superior courts were unified.
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.
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 Senate Judiciary 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. SB 1316 passed the Senate 38-0,
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5/23/02.
Related legislation :
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 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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/25/02)
California Law Revision Commission (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Ashburn, Bates, Bogh, Briggs,
Calderon, John Campbell, Canciamilla, Cardoza, Chan,
Chavez, Chu, Cogdill, Cohn, Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz,
Dickerson, Dutra, Firebaugh, Frommer, Goldberg, Harman,
Havice, Hollingsworth, Horton, Jackson, Keeley, Kehoe,
Kelley, Koretz, La Suer, Leach, Leonard, Leslie,
Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Maldonado, Matthews,
Migden, Mountjoy, Nakano, Nation, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Robert Pacheco, Rod Pacheco, Papan, Pavley,
Pescetti, Reyes, Richman, Runner, Salinas, Shelley,
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Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin, Thomson,
Vargas, Washington, Wayne, Wiggins, Wright, Wyland,
Wyman, Zettel, Wesson
RJG:jk 6/25/02 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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