Trial Court Funding Allocations Approved
SAN FRANCISCO—At its public meeting on July 29, the Judicial Council approved recommendations from its Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee to allocate funding for general court operations and specific costs of the trial courts for fiscal year 2016-17 from the Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF) and General Fund. The recommendations included new funding for general court operations, court employee benefits cost increases, court security, and workload costs associated with Proposition 47. (video)
Other items on the July 29 council meeting agenda included:
Court-Appointed Counsel Funding: The council adopted a recommendation to make a one-time modification to the court-appointed counsel funding methodology as it pertains to courts with smaller caseloads. The report to the council also noted that the Budget Act of 2016 does not provide any new money for court-appointed dependency counsel this fiscal year, which will leave the courts an estimated $88.2 million short of the funding need. (video)
Members of New Internal Council Budget Committee: The Chief Justice announced the members of a new committee that will review recommendations on statewide budget changes, the use of statewide reserves, and proposals for grant funding for judicial branch innovations. The new members are: Judge David M. Rubin (chair); Justice James M. Humes (vice-chair); Judge Marla O. Anderson; Judge Gary Nadler; Judge Dean T. Stout; Judge Jeffrey Barton; Judge Kyle S. Brodie; CEO Kimberly Flener; and Attorney Audra Ibarra. More information on these members can be found on the council’s website and this news release.
Community Corrections Report: The council accepted a report on the effectiveness of SB 678, also known as the California Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act of 2009. The report found that in each of the six years since the start of the SB 678 program, probation departments have increased their use of evidence-based practices and the state’s overall probation revocation rate has been lower than the original baseline rate of 7.9%.
Substance Abuse Focus Grants: The council approved funding programs in 49 courts for FY 2016-2017 to expand or enhance promising collaborative justice programs around the state.
An archived videocast of the entire meeting broken out by topic will be available on the council’s meeting information webpage.