BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
377 (Corbett)
Hearing Date: 04/27/2009 Amended: As introduced
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Judiciary 5-0
_________________________________________________________________
____
BILL SUMMARY: SB 377 would, upon legislative appropriation in
the Budget Act, authorize 50 new superior court judgeships.
_________________________________________________________________
____
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Authorizes 50 $34,552
$47,530 $47,530 General*
Judgeships
*Trial Court Trust Fund
_________________________________________________________________
____
STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria for referral to
the Suspense File.
This bill, sponsored by the Judicial Council, is the fourth in a
series of bills to authorize 150 new judgeships in California.
With the enactment of SB 56 (Dunn, Chapter 390 of 2006) and AB
159 (Jones, Chapter 722 of 2007), there were 1,606 Superior
Court judges and another 414 commissioners and referees in
California, totaling 2,020 judicial positions. According to
Judicial Council, the current judicial workload requires the
services of 2,332 judicial positions, leaving California with a
shortfall of 312. The funding was provided for the SB 56
authorized judgeships, and 49 of the 50 judges have been
appointed. The funding for AB 159 was deferred until after June
1, 2009, and then recently made contingent upon federal stimulus
funds. The third bill in the series, SB 1150 (Corbett, 2008) was
held in the Appropriations Committee.
The Administrative Office of the Courts estimates that the
annual full year personnel cost of a judgeship is $951,000,
including salaries and benefits for the judge, five support
staff, and 1.1 bailiffs and on-going OE&E. In addition, there
will be start-up costs in the first year of implementation.
Page 2
SB 377 (Corbett)
------------------------------------------
|Third Class of 50 New Judges | | |
| |2009-10|2010-11|
| |($000|($000s|
| |s) |) |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
| |
------------------------------------------
|-----------------------------+-----+------|
|Judges salaries & benefits | 765| 9,180|
|-----------------------------+-----+------|
|Staff salaries & benefits |1,470|17,649|
| | | |
------------------------------------------
|OE&E |1,118|13,417|
| | | |
|-----------------------------+-----+------|
| Total, salaries & benefits |$3,35|$40,24|
| | 3 | 6 |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
| |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
|Ongoing Facilities Cost | 607| 7,284|
|-----------------------------+-----+------|
| Total, ongoing costs |$3,96|$47,53|
| | 0 | 0 |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
| |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
|One-time costs (facilities & |30,59| - |
|non-facilities) | 2| |
------------------------------------------
| | | |
|-----------------------------+-----+------|
|Total Cost for FY |$34,5|$47,53|
| | 52 | 0 |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
| |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
|Per Judgeship Cost | | $951 |
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
| |
| |
------------------------------------------