BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2076
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Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2076 (Ma) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill:
1) Stipulates that fees collected for court reporters on
civil cases are retained by the courts where the fees are
collected rather than remitted to the Trial Court Trust
Fund.
2) Stipulates that for each civil trial proceeding lasting
more than an as yet to be determined number of minutes, a
fee equaling the actual cost of providing the official
court reporter's services shall be charges to the parties
on a pro rata basis.
FISCAL EFFECT
Allowing local courts to keep the fees collected for court
reporters will result in some net change in fee revenue among
the courts. For example, requiring the courts to assess and
collect court reporter fees for cases lasting less than one hour
(the bill does not specify a time period) will impose
significant administrative costs on the courts to assess,
monitor, and collect these fees. These costs, which will
partially offset any revenue increases, are unknown and will
depend in part on the actual time limit and the number of cases
exceeding that time limit. The Judicial Council notes that a law
and motion calendar, for example, could contain 20 to 50
different cases, of varying length, for a half-day calendar.
�Fees to help cover the cost of maintaining official court
reporters in civil courtrooms come from two sources: a $30
portion of the initial civil filing fee, and a fee charged for
AB 2076
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the services of an official court reporter for all proceedings
lasting longer than one hour, whereby the parties are charged a
fee equal to the half-day rate for court reporter services.
According to the most recent Judicial Council report, courts
collected $21.5 million for court reporters from initial filing
fees, and an additional $12.5 million from the fee for
proceedings lasting longer than an hour, for a total of $34
million. The Judicial Council estimates, however, that nearly
$83 million was spent last year on court reporters in civil
proceedings.]
COMMENTS
Purpose . As a result of the state's ongoing budget crisis,
General Fund support to the judicial branch budget has been
reduced by over $650 million, resulting in closed courtrooms,
reduced clerks' office hours and layoffs of court staff,
including court reporters in civil proceedings. Many civil
courtrooms are now operating without official court reporters.
This bill, sponsored by the California Court Reporters
Association and the California Official Court Reporters
Association, seeks to increase the use of official court
reporters in courts by allowing courts to keep and use locally
the fees that they collect for court reporters. The author and
proponents contend allowing courts to keep these fees will
incentivize them to collect more fees and use them to help
increase the use of official court reporters in civil
courtrooms. In addition, in order to help increase the funds
available to pay for court reporters, this bill looks to charge
court reporter fees for proceedings possibly lasting less than
one hour.
The author, the sponsors and interested stakeholders have agreed
to continue to work together to determine the correct time
period for charging parties for court reports in order to ensure
that the bill actually helps increase funds available for court
reporters. As a result, this bill currently leaves the minimum
amount of time when fees will be charged blank.
It is this committee's practice not to pass bills while they
contain blanks.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
AB 2076
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