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Demolition work to prepare the site for a new Santa Barbara Criminal Courthouse is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks. Perimeter fencing and other preparations for demolition are set to begin Sept. 24.

At its meeting this week, a council advisory committee will receive a draft report with an updated priority list for new courthouse construction projects statewide.

The committee will also consider adjustments made to the scoring process and criteria considered.

At its Nov. 14 meeting, the council also adjusted the scoring process and criteria used to create the priority list.

California Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye on Monday issued a statewide order suspending all jury trials in California's superior courts for 60 days and allowing courts to immediately adopt new rules to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Emergency meeting of court and branch leaders from around the state will focus on measures to ensure California courts can meet stringent health directives while also providing due process and access to justice.

The measures aim to continue essential court services while guarding the health and safety of the public, court employees, attorneys, litigants, judicial officers, law enforcement, and staff and inmates in detention facilities.

The council's latest temporary emergency rule requires attorneys to electronically serve and receive notices and documents in all general civil actions and family and probate proceedings when requested to do so.

Judges now have discretion to backdate modification requests for child, spousal, partner, or family support orders during the state of emergency.

Amid COVID-19 pandemic, the deadline to hold criminal trials has been extended a total of 90 days.  

The Judicial Council of California has launched the Pandemic Continuity of Operations Working Group, which will quickly collect best practices and publish a framework to help the state's 58 superior courts restore interrupted services in the wake of the...

"The judicial branch is prepared to work with the Governor and the Legislature as we all try to maintain services for the public we serve," the Chief Justice said. Read her full statement.