Programs and Services
Under the leadership of the Chief Justice and in accordance with the California Constitution, the Judicial Council is responsible for ensuring the consistent, independent, impartial, and accessible administration of justice. The council carries out this mission through the work of its advisory bodies and staff that help develop and implement the policies and solutions to the issues confronting the California court system.
The council also provides direct programs and services in multiple areas to ensure the courts can maintain meaningful access to the justice system for the public. Examples of just some of those service areas include:
- Budget, accounting, procurement, and audits—including management, distribution, and reporting on billions of dollars in court funding each year
- Human resources—including HR and payroll administration for the nearly 3,000 state justices, judges, and appellate court and judicial branch employees
- Information technology—including oversight for the California Courts public website, which averages 75,000 visitors per month
- Education and training for judges and court staff—including more than 150 courses, webinars, videos, and podcasts per year
- Courthouse construction, management, and emergency planning and security—including management of approximately 450 court facilities encompassing more than 19.8 million square feet, and annually completing more than 1,700 facility modification projects and addressing roughly 115,000 building service work orders
- Legal services—including the annual development of hundreds of new and amended court rules and forms, and providing counsel on thousands of legal matters and agreements for the courts each year
- Legislative advocacy—including the annual tracking of nearly 1,000 bills and the submission of approximately 50 position letters
- Public affairs—including answering more than 2,000 inquiries for information from media and the public each year