COCRA will be leaving this post as a sticky towards the top of the blog and we’ll be updating it with information on how each county is handling the court closures and furloughs.  Although the legislation allowing for court closures may make it appear as if every county is acting in a uniform fashion, a quick read through of this post will show that it most certainaly is not.   We will be updating this post with information as we receive it so be sure to continue to check back.  And of course if you have anything to add in terms of how your particular county is implementing court closures and furloughs, drop us a line or leave a comment and we’ll update the blog posting.

UPDATED: October 5th, 2009

San Mateo County:  ER Avoided

(more…)

After months of negotiating the one-day closure of trial courts statewide, final court closure statutory language has been sent to the Legislature for inclusion in the Budget Trailer Bill slated for legislative approval sometime next week.

The closures are expected to take effect in the month of July 2009 and result in employee unpaid furloughs and resultant savings of approximately $69.7 million in court employee salaries, plus an additional $23.2 million savings in court security and $9.3 million in voluntary participation by judges.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE BILL

NO SET CLOSURE DAY OF THE WEEK

The bill authorizes the Judicial Council, the governing body of the Administrative Office of the Courts, “may provide that the courts be closed for the transaction of judicial business for one day per month.” The AOC is expected to identify the day of the month and provide an implementation plan.

COURT HOLIDAY

The bill provides that the closure day “shall be treated as a holiday for purposes of performing any act requiring the transaction of judicial business,” and includes calculating court days for purposes of filing deadlines and in-custodies.

NO FURLOUGHS MENTIONED — BUT ANTICIPATED

The word “furlough” is not mentioned in this bill. Closure does not automatically equal furlough. The language gives the courts the statutory authority to close and to take steps to achieve savings as a result, which is widely expected to be employee furloughs.

(more…)

The following is the Court Closure Legislation Language developed to implement court closures statewide.

COURT CLOSURE LEGISLATION

SEC 1. Section 68106 is added to the Government Code to read:

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that the current fiscal crisis, one of the most serious and dire ever to affect the state, threatens the continued operations of the judicial branch. This situation requires a unique response to effectively use judicial branch resources while protecting the public by ensuring that courts remain open and accessible and that the core functions of the judicial branch are maintained to the greatest extent possible.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Judicial Council may provide that the courts be closed for the transaction of judicial business for one day per month and may adopt other appropriate provisions implementing this section, subject to the following conditions:

(1) If the Judicial Council has provided for the closure of courts pursuant to this section, the day so designated shall be treated as a holiday for purposes of performing any act requiring the transaction of judicial business including but not limited to (i) the transaction of judicial business under section 134 of the Code of Civil Procedure, (ii) the sitting or holding of a court under section 136 of the Code of Civil Procedure, (iii) the computation of time under sections 12 and 12a of the Code of Civil Procedure, (iv) the computation of time under all time dependent provisions including but not limited to sections 825, 859b, 1050, 1191, 1382 and 1449 of the Penal Code; (v) the computation of time under all time dependent provisions including but not limited to sections 313, 315, 631, 632, 637, 657, 702, 704 and 777 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.

(more…)