BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 405|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 405
Author: Corbett (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-1, 03/22/11
AYES: Evans, Corbett, Leno
NOES: Harman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Blakeslee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 05/26/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
SUBJECT : Judgeships
SOURCE : Judicial Council
DIGEST : This bill ratifies the Judicial Councils
conversion authority for the 2011-12 fiscal year relative
to subordinate judicial officer positions (SJOs).
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that the Legislature
shall prescribe the number of judges and provide for the
officers and employees of each superior court. (Cal.
Const., art. VI, Sec. 4.) Under existing law, the
Legislature may provide for the trial courts to appoint
officers such as commissioners to perform subordinate
judicial duties. (Cal. Const., art. VI, Sec. 22.)
Existing law also authorizes the courts to appoint
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subordinate judicial officers, and sets forth their duties
and titles. (Gov. Code Sec. 71622.)
Existing law permits the conversion of as many as 162
subordinate judicial officer positions into judgeships in
eligible courts, not to exceed 16 conversions each fiscal
year, based on specified criteria developed by the Judicial
Council. (Gov. Code Sec. 69615.)
Existing law authorizes the Judicial Council to also
convert annually, in eligible superior courts, up to 10
additional subordinate judicial officer positions to
judgeships, upon vacancy, where the conversions will result
in a judge being assigned to a family or juvenile law
assignment previously presided over by an SJO. (Gov. Code
Sec. 69615.) Existing law requires that these conversions
must be ratified by the Legislature by statutory enactment
other than the annual Budget Act.
This bill ratifies the Judicial Council's authority to
convert 10 SJO positions to judgeships in the 2011-12
fiscal year where the conversion will result in a judge
being assigned to a family law or juvenile law assignment
previously presided over by an SJO.
This bill provides that this conversion shall be in
addition to any action taken under existing law to convert
up to 16 SJO positions per fiscal year to judgeships.
Under current law, the Legislature is responsible for
prescribing the number of judges and providing for the
officers and employees of each superior court. (Cal.
Const., art. VI, Sec. 4.) Existing law further permits the
Legislature to provide for, and the courts to appoint, SJOs
to assist the courts in carrying out their duties. (Id. at
Sec. 22; Gov. Code Sec. 71622.) According to the Judicial
Council, there are approximately 360 court commissioner
positions in the state's trial courts.
Responding to the shortage of judges available to handle
the trial courts' workload, the Legislature has considered
numerous bills over the last several years that would have
established 150 new judgeships and authorized the
conversion of up to 162 existing SJOs, limited to 16 per
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fiscal year, to judgeships upon vacancy. Largely due to
the economic recession, however, just 50 new judgeships
have been authorized and funded by the Legislature and
Governor. In contrast, the Legislature and Governor have
authorized the conversion of 16 SJOs to judgeships in each
of the last four fiscal years (07-08, 08-09, 09-10, and
10-11). And, at the time of the writing of this analysis,
language in the budget act will authorize an additional 16
conversions for fiscal year 11-12.
Last year, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed
AB 2763 (Committee on Judiciary, Chap. 690, Stats. 2010)
which authorized the Judicial Council to convert up to 10
additional SJOs to judgeships each year, upon vacancy, if
the conversion of these additional positions would result
in a judge being assigned to a family or juvenile law
assignment previously presided over by an SJO. Under AB
2763, that conversion must be ratified by the Legislature
by legislation other than the annual Budget Act. This bill
would ratify the Judicial Council's conversion authority
for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
Comments
The expanding role of SJOs . California's trial courts have
relied on SJOs for decades to assist in managing their
workload. However, the perpetual shortage of authorized
judgeships has prompted courts to assign SJOs as temporary
judges. In this capacity, there is nothing "subordinate"
about the role of SJOs in the judicial process.
Increasingly, SJOs are performing some of the most complex
and sensitive judicial duties, including core judicial
duties such as adjudicating juvenile and family law cases.
While SJOs must meet specified criteria for the job, SJOs
are, unlike judges, selected by the courts and not subject
to elections. As noted in the Judicial Council's letter of
support for this bill, the use of SJOs as temporary judges
is expansive:
Over the years, in the face of few or no new
judgeships being created, courts have had to hire SJOs
simply to meet the demands of their workload. As a
result, these SJOs have not simply been assigned to
perform subordinate judicial duties, but in many cases
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they are assigned as temporary judges, possessing the
full power of judges. The Judicial Council believes
that family law and juvenile law cases, among the
courts' most sensitive and often most complex, should
be assigned to judges whenever possible. It has been
estimated that SJOs spend an average of 55 percent of
their time working as temporary judges, and in large
courts, the number is more like 75-80 percent. In
practice, many SJOs are de facto judges, but without
the accountability to the public or the authority and
independence the Constitution provides.
According to the Judicial Council, the number of annual SJO
vacancies created over the last three years has exceeded
the number of conversions (16) it is authorized to annually
execute. The Legislature's approval last year of AB 2763
recognized that allowing the Judicial Council to expedite
the conversion of additional SJO positions to judgeships in
eligible superior courts where the conversion would result
in a judge being assigned to a family law or juvenile law
assignment helped to ensure that more family and juvenile
law cases would be heard by judges in the future. This
bill would ratify that conversion for the 2011-12 fiscal
year.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13
2013-14 Fund
Conversion of SJO position up to $300
annuallyGeneral*
*Trial Court Trust Fund
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/26/11)
Judicial Council (source)
Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State
Bar
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office:
Seeking to improve the handling of family and juvenile
law cases by increasing the likelihood that these
matters are presided over by judges and not
subordinate judicial officers, SB 405 (Corbett)
ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to
convert 10 subordinate judicial officer positions to
judgeships in the 2011-12 fiscal year where the
conversion will result in a judge being assigned to a
family law or juvenile law assignment previously
presided over by a subordinate judicial officer.
For the past four years since the conversions of SJO
positions began? more than 16 SJO vacancies occurred
in courts eligible for conversion of these positions
to judgeships. The annual cap of 16 conversions in
each fiscal year has resulted in courts either keeping
the vacancy for an extended period, impacting the
ability to serve the public, or filling the vacant
position with a new SJO, impacting the ability to
convert positions consistent with the stated intent of
the Legislature that these positions be converted to
judgeships in order to ensure that critical case
types, including family, probate, and juvenile law
matters, can be heard by judges.
RJG:nl 5/27/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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