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A 2022 Annual Report released by San Bernardino Superior Court said that the court saw improvements in staffing, funding and courthouses.

The court has $201 million in funding, which leaves 9% of its 2022-23 needs unfunded. This is a decrease from the 2021-22 funding gap of 23% and the 2014-15 funding gap of 42%.

Judges and staff

The court saw 12 new judges join the bench in 2022: Joni Sinclair, Damian Garcia, Kory Mathewson, Christian Towns, Michael Dauber, Rasheed Alexander, Stephanie Tañada, Jeffrey Erickson, Marie Moreno Myers, Melissa Rodriguez and David Tulcan. Natalie Keller also was appointed as a court commissioner. The court still needs 30 more judges to meet its caseload, the report said.

The court had a 15% staff vacancy rate before it hired 157 more people and added 122 new full-time positions. In total, San Bernardino Superior Court saw a 5% increase in total staff in 2022. The court held two job fairs that produced 71 new hires.

Technology

The court provided eFiling for probate cases in March, and expects to expand eFiling to small claims in spring, in civil and landlord tenant cases in winter, and family law and appeals cases in spring 2024, the report says.

The court had spent $1.3 million from the Judicial Council over the past three years, which they partially spent on the Court Access Portal, launched in 2022. The court also spent the money on SCRIPTA, a tool for judges to access court files and take notes on cases; this was also released in 2022.

The court received 56,087 requests for remote video translation in 2022. The court had expanded interpreter service for all family law cases, and expects to expand it to small claims and litigation in 2023.

Courthouses expansion and remodel

Litigants who live in east San Bernardino County can now appear in any cases remotely from Needles instead of making the more than 160-mile drive to San Bernardino, which takes around three and a half hours in good traffic, or five hours by train. The courthouse expanded to allow filing five days a week, and will hold traffic hearings and misdemeanor probation modifications on the first Friday of every month.

The report said a High Desert justice center is also needed, to consolidate 19 departments from Barstow to Victorville.

The Juvenile Dependency Courthouse renovation will add two courtrooms in the Historic Courthouse.

Community

The report touted the court’s Judges in the Classroom program, homeless outreach initiatives, town hall series, elimination of bias committee and re-creation of San Bernardino’s civil rights case: Lopez v. Seccombe.

Read the full report here.

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