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Written by SaveLACourts.com

Aug 08

2012

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Judicial Council Mulls Offsetting Court Cuts

(Courthouse News, 8/7/12)

Under strict limits for moving money within the judiciary’s budget, California’s Judicial Council had little wiggle room to offset the $385 million in new cuts doled out to trial courts at its recent meeting… This week, the council’s staff agency, the Administrative Office of the Courts, will meet with the Department of Finance to negotiate its recent decision stripping the state’s 58 trial courts of all but 1 percent of their fund balances, about $550 million, and sweeping it into a statewide pot. Read More…

Aug 08

2012

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Last-Minute Judge Comments Urge Reform

(Courthouse News, 8/6/12)

Comments from California judges urging reform of their central bureaucracy continued to pour into a state website, with the governing body of the courts meeting later this week to consider the flood of robed opinion. The big majority — roughly 90 percent — of the judges urge support for the fundamental reforms proposed by a committee of judges, that include radically downsizing the central bureaucracy and taking away its role in setting policy. Read More...

Aug 08

2012

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AOC’s New Director Describes Role as ‘Servant’ to Judicial Council

(Recorder, 7/30/12)

In his first public comments since being named administrative director of California’s courts on Friday, Steven Jahr, a retired Shasta County Superior Court judge, described his new role in deferential terms…Jahr’s remarks appeared to acknowledge the turmoil that has engulfed the judiciary in recent months over the proper role of the branch’s administrative arm. And they seemed to reflect many jurists’ loud call for changes in the Administrative Office of the Courts. Hundreds of judges have publicly endorsed a report by the Strategic Evaluation Committee that concluded the AOC has grown too large and too dominant in its dealings with trial courts. Read More…

Aug 08

2012

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‘Now Is Time for Reform,’ Los Angeles Superior Court Tells AOC

(Met News, 7/20/12)

The Judicial Council needs to implement reform of the Administrative Officer of the Courts, as proposed by the chief justice’s Strategic Evaluation Committee, without delay, the Los Angeles Superior Court has insisted. “The fact that a new Administrative Director will soon be in place does not excuse or justify further Judicial Council delay in endorsing the SEC Report,” the court said in its formal comments on the report, a copy of which was obtained yesterday by the MetNews. Read More…

Jul 03

2012

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Court Budget Now Signed, But Math Remains Fuzzy

(The Recorder, 6/28/12)
Governor Jerry Brown signed a flurry of legislation Wednesday and Thursday that chops $544 million from California’s judiciary and enacts sweeping new court financing policies.

The budget, which takes effect Sunday, will drain $235 million from local courts’ reserves, redirect $240 million that was supposed to fund court construction and cut another $50 million in funding (on top of a $100 million cut the branch had already agreed to take). As of July 2014, courts will no longer be able to keep more than one percent of local money in reserve. Read More

Jun 26

2012

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Trial Courts May Get to Hold Onto Their Reserves for Another Year

(The Recorder, 6/25/12)

California’s trial courts would have two years instead of one to hold on to their reserves before a 1 percent cap goes into effect, according to budget language formally released by state lawmakers on Monday. Read More

Jun 26

2012

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Alliance Blasts Judicial Council’s Initial Response to SEC Report

(Metropolitan News-Enterprise, 6/25/12)

The Alliance of California Judges Friday blasted the Judicial Council for its lack of immediate action on the report of the Strategic Evaluation Committee… The Council has without a doubt now put the matter of the implementation of the report’s recommendations on a piecemeal schedule which could literally take years to run its course.” Read More

Jun 26

2012

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Judicial Council Takes Trust Fund Money for CCMS ‘Parts’ in SLO

(Courthouse News Service, 6/22/12)

The Judicial Council of California voted today to use money from the state’s trial court trust fund so that San Luis Obispo’s superior court can create a case management system that is expected to use parts from a controversial IT project terminated in March. Read More

Jun 15

2012

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Los Angeles County court system begins layoffs, pay cuts, reductions amid plunging budgets

(AP, 6/14/12)

The Los Angeles County court system began handing out layoff notices Friday as plunging budgets set in motion major reductions. Officials said the cutbacks in the court system will affect 431 employees and 56 courtrooms in a county that’s home to nearly 10 million people. Read More

Jun 15

2012

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Demo of ‘Terminated’ Court IT System Raises Fear of Its Return

(Courthouse News Service, 6/14/12)

The recent demonstration of a thought-to-be-terminated court IT system has brought fear that it is rising from its grave… The fear that the project is being resurrected was likely prompted by a recent email from central court administrators describing the IT project as merely in “suspension.” The same email said the project that has feasted off public money is currently in “maintenance mode,” and went on to offer a demonstration of the latest version of the system, V-4, to any court that might be interested. Read More