Bill Text: CA SB75 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Bill 75 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Courts: judgeships.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2023-10-08 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 482, Statutes of 2023. [SB75 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB75-Introduced.html

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 75

Introduced by Senator Roth

January 11, 2023

An act to add Section 69614.5 to the Government Code, relating to courts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 75, as introduced, Roth. Courts: Judgeships.

Existing law allocates additional judgeships to various counties in accordance with uniform standards for factually determining additional need in each county, as approved by the Judicial Council.

This bill would authorize 26 additional judgeships, subject to appropriation. This bill would require the Judicial Council to determine the allocation of those positions, pursuant to that uniform criteria.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The public’s right to timely access to justice is contingent on having adequate judicial resources in every county in the state.

(b) Existing law allocates the number of judges for the superior court of each county. Existing law allocates additional judgeships to the various counties in accordance with uniform standards for factually determining additional judicial need in each county, as updated and approved by the Judicial Council, pursuant to the Update of Judicial Needs Study, based on specified criteria, including, among others, workload standards that represent the average amount of time of bench and nonbench work required to resolve each case type.

(c) While additional judgeships have been funded between 2007 and 2022 and that funding has reduced the gap between the number of authorized judgeships and judicial need, a critical need for additional judicial resources in some underserved areas of the state continues to exist.

(d) Based on the Judicial Council’s 2022 Judicial Needs Assessment, 17 counties require additional judgeships for a total requirement of 98 new judicial positions in the state. In some counties, the existing disparity between authorized and funded positions and judicial need is expected to widen due to continued dramatic population growth in the future.

(e) In inland southern California, the County of Riverside has experienced a 62-percent increase in population since 2000 and the County of San Bernardino, with a 33-percent increase in population during the same period, has experienced similar explosive growth. As a result, the 2022 Judicial Needs Assessment determined that, of the 98 positions required in the state, the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino need a total of 52 of those judicial positions in order to provide appropriate access to justice for inland southern California residents, 55 percent of the overall requirement in the state. 15 other counties require additional resources as well.

(f) Accordingly, the Legislature authorizes 26 new superior court judgeships, subject to appropriation, to be allocated by the Judicial Council’s 2022 Judicial Needs Assessment, including the courts of the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino, in accordance with the uniform criteria set forth in that assessment.

SEC. 2.

Section 69614.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:

69614.5.

Twenty-six additional superior court judgeships are authorized, subject to appropriation. These positions shall be allocated by the Judicial Council to the various county superior courts, including the courts of the Counties of Riverside and San Bernardino, in accordance with the uniform criteria described in subdivision (b) of Section 69614, as updated and approved by the Judicial Council.