BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 2073 (Silva) - Courts: electronic filing and service of
documents.
Amended: June 26, 2012 Policy Vote: Judiciary 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 6, 2012
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2073 would do the following:
Authorize the Orange County Superior Court, until July 1,
2014, to establish a pilot project to require parties to
specified civil actions to electronically file and serve
documents.
Require the Judicial Council to evaluate the pilot project and
report to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2013.
Require the Judicial Council to, on or before July 1, 2014,
adopt uniform rules to permit the mandatory electronic filing
and service of documents for specified civil actions in the
trial courts statewide.
Authorize a superior court to require mandatory electronic
filing upon the adoption of the uniform rules by the Judicial
Council for mandatory electronic filing, as specified.
Fiscal Impact:
One-time costs in the range of $28,000 to $50,000 (General
Fund) for the Judicial Council to conduct the evaluation of
the pilot project and prepare the report to the Legislature by
December 31, 2013.
One-time likely minor costs (General Fund) for the Judicial
Council to develop and adopt the uniform rules of court by
July 1, 2014.
Minor costs within its existing budget allocation of less than
$100,000 (General Fund) to the Orange County Superior Court to
operate the pilot. Ongoing future cost savings in the range of
$2 million to the extent the pilot is successful in increasing
efficiencies in court operations.
Unknown, significant future cost pressure for start-up
infrastructure and resource needs potentially in excess of
$100,000 to $300,000 per court electing to implement mandatory
AB 2073 (Silva)
Page 1
electronic filing to modify court case management systems to
meet standard interface requirements necessary to effectuate
electronic filing. To the extent electronic filing results in
increased efficiency of court operations, potentially
significant ongoing future cost savings.
Background: Existing law provides that a trial court may adopt
local rules permitting electronic filing of documents, subject
to adopted Rules of Court and subject to specified conditions
including but not limited to electronic signatures and fee
waivers. Under existing law, a court may require electronic
filing of documents in complex civil litigation cases, provided
that it does not cause undue hardship or significant prejudice
to any party in the action.
Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt uniform
rules for the electronic filing and service of documents in the
trial courts of the state, which shall include statewide
policies on vendor contracts, privacy, and access to public
records, and rules relating to the integrity of the electronic
service.
Proposed Law: This bill would authorize the Orange County
Superior Court, until July 1, 2014, to establish a pilot project
to require parties to specified civil actions to electronically
file and serve documents, subject to the following conditions:
The court has the ability to maintain the official court
record in electronic format for all cases where electronic
filing is required.
The court and the parties have access to more than one
electronic service provider capable of electronically
filing documents with the court, including access directly
through the court, and any fees charged by the court or by
an electronic service provider shall be as specified and
waived when appropriate, including for any party who has
received a fee waiver.
The court has a procedure for the filing of
non-electronic documents in order to prevent the program
from causing undue hardship or significant prejudice to any
party in an action, including unrepresented parties.
A court that elects to require electronic filing
pursuant to the authority for the Orange County Superior
Court may permit documents to be filed electronically until
12 a.m. on the day after the court date that the filing is
AB 2073 (Silva)
Page 2
due and the filing shall be considered timely, except as
otherwise specified.
This bill would provide that if a pilot project is established,
the Judicial Council shall evaluate the pilot project and report
to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2013, on the
results of the evaluation including the cost of the program to
participants, cost-effectiveness for the court, effect on
unrepresented parties and parties with fee waivers, and ease of
use for participants. This bill would also require the Judicial
Council to, on or before July 1, 2014, adopt uniform rules to
permit the mandatory electronic filing and service of documents
for specified civil actions in the trial courts statewide, as
specified.
This bill provides that upon the adoption of uniform rules by
the Judicial Council for mandatory electronic filing and service
of documents for specified civil actions in the trial courts of
the state, a superior court may, by local rule, require
mandatory electronic filing, as specified.
Staff Comments: The Judicial Council will incur one-time costs
to conduct the evaluation of the pilot project and prepare the
report to the Legislature. The Judicial Council has estimated
costs in the range of $28,000 to $50,000 (General Fund) for
staff resources required for data collection, contact with
e-filing vendors and courts, cost-benefit analysis,
determination of infrastructure and staff usage requirements in
the pilot court, interviews or surveys of program participants,
and site visits. One-time costs to the Judicial Council to
develop the uniform rules on mandatory e-filing for specified
civil actions are estimated to be minor.
Any costs to the Orange County Superior Court to implement the
pilot project will be absorbed within the court's existing
budget allocation and is expected to result in ongoing cost
savings to the court in increased efficiencies in court
operations.
As the provisions of this bill authorize superior courts to
require mandatory electronic filing upon the adoption of the
uniform rules by the Judicial Council, there would be
significant future cost pressure for start-up infrastructure and
resource costs should additional courts elect to implement
AB 2073 (Silva)
Page 3
mandatory electronic filing. The costs could range upwards of
$100,000 to $300,000 per court to modify its existing court case
management system to meet the standard interface requirements
necessary to implement electronic filing. Total costs are
unknown at this time and would be dependent upon the number and
timing of courts opting to implement mandatory electronic
filing, and the specific requirements adopted pursuant to the
rules of court regarding a statewide policy on vendor contracts,
privacy, access to public records, unrepresented parties,
parties with fee waivers, hardships, reasonable exceptions to
electronic filing, and rules relating to the integrity of
electronic service. If five courts opt to implement mandatory
electronic filing in any one year, start up costs could be in
excess of $500,000 to $1.5 million.
To the extent the implementation of electronic filing results in
the increased efficiency of court operations, the up-front
implementation costs to courts would be more than offset by
long-term future cost savings potentially in the millions of
dollars.
Recommended Amendments: As currently drafted, the bill's
provisions provide that, "Any fees charged by an electronic
filing service provider shall be reasonable and shall be waived
when deemed appropriate by the electronic filing service
providers , including but not limited to, for any party who has
received a fee waiver." Staff recommends an amendment to delete
the electronic service provider's authority to waive fees and
instead place the authority with the court.