The governor’s proposed budget looks good for trial courts.
The proposed budget would increase total funding across California’s judicial system by $1 billion, and increase funding to the trial courts by $670 million.
It would increase the trial court general fund by $184.2 million, renew the modernization fund by $74.7 million over two years, and create a $39.1 million ongoing fund for 23 superior court judgeships that are currently underfunded.
“We are very pleased that the Governor included additional judgeships in his proposal, these are very much needed in Riverside County where we are severely underjudged,” Marita Ford, Riverside Superior Court chief deputy – finance and human resources and public information officer, wrote in an email.
The budget is tentative, and will change after the governor negotiates with legislators. Individual figures for Riverside and San Bernardino superior courts will not be decided until the Judicial Council allocates funding. The Judicial Council allocates funding based on each court’s workload.
Ford said she was pleased with the proposed budget’s $28.7 million fund for trial court employee health benefits, the $8.3 million fund to increase compensation for court-appointed attorneys, and the progress the governor and legislature have made with restoring funding to the courts after reductions made under COVID. Riverside Superior Court is currently at 84% of its state funding need, Ford wrote.
The budget also proposes to reduce the civil assessment fee, a fee with a maximum cost of $300 given to individuals who don’t show up to court or who don’t pay their ticket. Civil assessment fees brought a net revenue of $7 million to Riverside Superior Court, and $1.3 million to San Bernardino Superior Court in 2019, according to Judicial Council records. The budget would replace the lost revenue to courts with $50 million in an ongoing general fund.
The budget also proposed $117.8 million in an ongoing ongoing fund to backfill a decline in fine and fee penalty revenue. Both San Bernardino Superior Court’s and Riverside Superior Court’s fine and fee penalty revenues dropped by half over the past 10 years, from $11 million in the 2011-2012 fiscal year to $5.3 million for San Bernardino and from $20 million to $11.2 million for Riverside, according to Judicial Council records.
The budget also proposes the following:
- $40 million to the facilities construction fund
- $48 million over two years to improve remote access to proceedings
- $15.4 million for critical building repairs
- $15 million fund to implement a data and information framework
- $1.3 million for the Judicial Council to study probate conservatorships.
“I welcome the Governor’s continuing commitment to sustainable funding in his budget proposal for the judicial branch,” California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye wrote in a press release. “He clearly recognizes how important equal access to justice is for all Californians.”
A statement from San Bernardino Superior Court joined the chief justice’s release, and supports the proposed budget.
“Locally, SBSC would benefit from and be able to realize multi-year goals for bringing tech-forward, increased service to its residents over its 20,000 square miles,” says the statement from Julie Van Hook, San Bernardino Superior Court communications and public affairs officer.
