BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 405
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 6, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                SB 405 (Corbett) - As Introduced:  February 16, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              JudiciaryVote:7-3

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to, in 
          2011-12, convert 10 subordinate judicial officers (SJOs) to 
          judgeships assigned to family or juvenile law.

           FISCAL EFFECT  


          Annual cost of up to $270,000 for conversion of up to 10 SJOs to 
          judgeships.  For each conversion of an SJO position to a 
          judgeship, the additional annual cost, based on salary 
          differences between the two positions, is approximately $27,000. 
          The Judicial Council indicates that these additional costs will 
          be funded through a reallocation of monies in the Trial Court 
          Trust Fund. 


           COMMENTS  

           Background and Purpose . According to the Judicial Council, SJO 
          positions were historically created and funded at the county 
          level to address courts' needs for judicial-like resources when 
          new judgeships were pending or not yet authorized by the 
          Legislature.  Unlike judges, SJOs are not directly accountable 
          to the public, but due to the shortages of judges, are 
          performing some of the most complex and sensitive judicial 
          duties.  Conversion of these positions to judgeships when they 
          become vacant makes them both more accountable to the public 
          and, the author contends, helps provide better trust and 
          confidence in the courts.

          AB 159 (Jones)/Chapter 722 of 2007, in addition to authorizing 








                                                                  SB 405
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          50 additional trial court judgeships, authorized the conversion 
          of 162 SJOs to judgeships, with a cap of 16 conversions per year 
          and subject to Legislative authorization through the budget, 
          which has occurred each year. On top of these 162 positions, AB 
          2763 (Feuer)/Chapter 690 of 2010, authorized conversion of an 
          additional 10 SJO positions per year to judgeships, but only to 
          fill SJO vacancies in a family law or juvenile law assignments 
          in order to address shortages of judges in these areas. (The 
          Judicial Council and other parties have identified family and 
          juvenile law matters among those that are of such a nature as to 
          require judges, rather than SJOs, to preside over them whenever 
          possible.)

          SB 405 fulfills the requirement in AB 2763 that the conversion 
          of 10 SJOs be ratified by statutory enactment other than the 
          Budget Act.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081