FY 2011-12 and FY 2012-13 Trial Court Budget Reduction Impact SurveySamples and Highlights of Responses

In June trial courts were asked to complete a survey related to the impact of the potential budget reductions on trial court operations, in nine areas: meeting statutory time limits, ability to access the courts, case processing times, issuance of restraining orders, family law, domestic violence, criminal, civil, and traffic; as well as any other critical services to the public that might be impacted. Responses were received from 55 trial courts, and are reported below:

1. Ability to meet statutory time limits

Samples and highlights of responses received:Time limits for criminal and juvenile cases would be met as required by law. The result of the budget cuts would be reductions in staff (through additional furlough days, implementation of a hiring freeze or layoffs), courthouse and/or courtroom closures, and reduced hours of court operations, which would significantly reduce access to civil justice.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: The court will not be able to meet the statutory time limits for all cases, resulting in the dismissal of a

large number of civil cases as well as criminal cases. This means the public will make multiple trips to the courthouse, pay filing fees more than once to re-file cases, feel victimized as a result of dismissed criminal cases, experience more mistakes in court paperwork and records, and have their lives and livelihood put in limbo waiting to have their civil issues resolved.

The budget cuts will force the court to significantly reduce access to civil justice – with few exceptions noted elsewhere in this survey, e.g. trial preference pursuant to CCP 36, unlawful detainer trials. The primary effect will be felt by those litigants asserting their right to adjudicate their cases by jury trial. Approximately 100 civil jury trials are conducted each year. To conserve and reallocate resources, an unspecified number of civil departments will be closed. The effect of this will be to only adjudicate those cases by jury trial that have been pending for 5 years. If the budget cuts continue to the next year, both jury and non-jury civil trials will be conducted for those cases reaching the 5 year mark.

Unlawful Detainer Trials: In unlawful detainer proceedings, the trial must be held within 20 days of the filing of a request (memorandum) to set trial. (CCP 1170.5(a).) Again, this requirement will be met but at the expense of extreme delay in other civil matters.

Probate: There are numerous probate matters subject to strict deadlines. The probate court also hears many urgent matters that are not subject to specific deadlines. For example, a petition for probate of a decedent’s estate must normally be held within 30 days of the petition’s filing. (Prob. Code 8003.) The administration of the estate must normally be closed within 12 of 18 months. (Prob. Code 12200.) Conservatorships require frequent reviews and initial investigations. The court will attempt to meet these requirements, but again this will be accomplished by reallocating resources from other areas of the court, namely civil and family law courtrooms and clerk’s offices.

Fee Waivers: Fee waivers must be decided within five days of filing, or else they are automatically granted. To the extent there are insufficient resources to review fee waivers as required by statute, an unknown number of non-meritorious fee waivers may be granted by operation of law.

All discretionary programs would be eliminated such as Drug Courts, Proposition 36 review courts. Court Appointed Counsel and investigations under the family code would be eliminated. Justice on our community would be greatly compromised with the majority of resources going to criminal proceedings

1

only. Time requirements for hearings in civil, family law and probate matters would most likely, not be met.

Significant delays in providing certified plea records to agencies needing information to prove prior convictions. Currently, these are processed within 10 days to 2 weeks. Could be delayed up to 4 weeks. This could impact another county's ability to prosecute priors.

Potential delay in court dates, increase refund of bail timeframe by 60 - 90 days, inability to meet statutory distribution deadlines (18% penalty may be incurred). The public may bring forward lawsuits and claims against the Court because we are unable to take timely action on statutory mandates. This reduction may create a backlog in recalling warrants thus causing the public to be arrested unnecessarily.

Criminal/Traffic Counters would be reduced to one counter for both subject matters increasing the public's wait time. Civil/Family Law/Juvenile Counters would be reduced to one counter for all subject matters significantly increasing the public wait time. Reduced Court Clerk's Office and telephone hours would mean additional patrons coming into the Court.

Services to the Public will be limited to statutory requirements such as criminal, family law and juvenile matters creating lengthy delays for all other constituents seeking court services due to anticipated 4 furlough days per month as well as possible layoffs.

It is extremely likely, if not certain, that the court would be unable to meet all of its statutory obligations with this level of reduction. To achieve the level of savings necessary, the court would likely have to lay off 30% of all FTE's (up to 64% of case processing FTE's) which would leave only 8 FTE's to handle all case processing tasks for a 4 judge court. This puts judges and court staff in impossible situations, choosing which statute to comply with and which one to violate. It could put the court, judges and staff at risk of liability should there be negative consequences of not complying with all statutory time limits.

2. Public Access to the Courts

Samples and highlights of responses received:Budget cuts would result in a reduction of services to the public, including, reduced hours of court operations, reduced staffing, closure of self-help centers, and elimination of community programs and public outreach. The effect on public access would be no JusticeCorp program assistance due to loss of self-help centers, and longer lines and wait times.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Budget cuts might result in the closure of all Self-Help Centers and loss of staff to the Court. The Self-

Help Centers assisted 43,256 unrepresented litigants in FY 09/10 in family law matters, guardianships, unlawful detainer actions, and small claims cases. Without the Self-Help Center assistance, tens of thousands of unrepresented litigants would be unable to adequately prepare their cases and resolve their legal issues. Unrepresented litigants will find it increasingly difficult to file for dissolution, resulting in delayed child support and proper custody and visitation orders, and an increased inability to resolve property issues. Children will be at serious risk from unstable homes without assistance in guardianship cases, and are at risk of moving into more mental health problems and criminal activity. Tenants will be less likely to exercise their rights without Self-Help Center assistance and will be unlawfully evicted.

2

Many will experience greater difficulties in filing small claims cases and will not have an effective mechanism to get their limited jurisdiction case resolved.

No JusticeCorp program or assistance will be provided due to the loss of Self-Help Centers. Annually, nearly 17,000 people were assisted by JusticeCorp volunteers at the Court's Self Help Center, approximately 38% of all SHC users. In the current FY, 16,500 is the projected total of individuals assisted. Of those 16,500 individuals, nearly 6,500 cases involve children; more than 1,300 instances provided services in a language other than English.

Decrease in staff may cause the clerk's office to reduce hours and subsequently less access to the public. Some locations may be closed one day a month. The public may have to travel in excess of 50 miles to attend mandatory hearings.

All Court users will be adversely affected due to reduced staffing [hiring freeze and attrition losses] and shortened window operating hours at the two remaining Clerk's Offices. Court closures will impact access to the Courts [and Clerk's Offices]. The loss of the 0.5 FTE from the Jury Services Division will negatively affect response times to prospective jurors' requests and questions.

Reduction in self help hours, free clinics, attorney appointments, Spanish outreach outreach/court services in remote areas of county, and mediation.

After reducing non-staff budget as much as possible, the Court would be forced to lay off as many as 830 staff and subsequently close 70 courtrooms and close 7 courthouses; reduce central support staff by 9%.

The Court will have to close the clerical divisions after 6 hours per day as the minimum required by law in order for staff to coordinate between divisions for criminal, family law and civil casework. In addition, 4 furlough days per month may need to be instituted; severely handicapping staff's assistance time to the public, therefore crippling access to justice.

Extensive delays and reduced quality of service to the public due to severely limited public service hours particularly in the civil/family law division. Limited access to or elimination of information for other agencies. Limited access to court services in particular for pro per litigants. Case Delays-particularly in the FLF/Self Help Center and Civil. Lowered public trust and confidence perception. Limited family and mediation services possibly leading to family conflict and/or increased domestic violence. Reduced Judicial Reception services would reduce hours of operations for answering phones from the public and with our agency partners.

The public will commute much farther distances to access court services; wait in significantly longer lines; take more time off work to go to court; have to call the court multiple times just to reach a live body; receive a much lower quality of service when at court; and wait months for their hearing to be calendared. Some will simply give up on pursuing their legal issues because the court's services are too difficult to access, too expensive, and rife with errors.

Entry into CCPOR will still be done. All waiting and processing times will likely double. Longer lines (45 min) and telephone wait times (30 min longer) - no call backs; file stamp same date - processing longer (4-6 days), mail processing 4 wks, Records research 10 days; default judgments 10 wks. No time to update the website on current law and changes in processing. All non-grants funded Self-Help Services

3

eliminated. Absent grants, services will discontinue. Same day media access to filed documents will be delayed by 2 - 3 days.

Office hours reduced by approx 10 hours weekly; Reduced phones access.

3. Restraining Orders

Samples and highlights of responses received:Filing and processing of restraining orders would be delayed due to shorter Clerk’s Office hours and reduced court staffing, resulting in an increased risk to persons requiring protection.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Approximately 3,000 filings each year will now suffer from delay and lack of assistance due to budget

cuts. Reductions to court funding will result in longer lines, far fewer options for assistance, and reduced court staffing will result in long waits at the court required to complete court business, which may impact individuals seeking legal protection in DV situations.

In addition to DVPA, approximately 2,200 other restraining order filings, including civil harassment, workplace violence and elder abuse, have increased. Reductions in court funding will result in longer waits for service, limited options for assistance, and reduced staffing may result in longer periods at the court required to complete court business. Increases in wait times for these restraining orders is certain with the Court mandated to provide services to other types of cases prioritized above restraining orders.

Shorter clerk's office hours may cause a delay in the public's ability to come to the counter and into court to process their restraining orders. This can mean potential harm to victims, including families, children and the elderly. Self-help services may be reduced and self-represented litigants may be unable to complete restraining order paperwork.

If we are furloughing staff one day per week or have reduced our case processing staff by 64%, it is extremely likely that restraining orders will not be processed in a timely manner. For example if a litigant brings in a restraining order at 4:00 pm on a Thursday, and the court is closed as a result of furloughs on Friday, it is possible that a judge will not be able to review and sign the order until the following Monday. That would put victims at additional risk as a result of the court's inability to provide this basic service.

Require the protected person to complete the orders after hearing rather than court staff. Orders are currently being entered into CLETS with 24 hours by the Court. May have to go back to having the Sheriff inputting them. May cause delayed protection.

Significant time delay for restraining orders since clerk's office hours will be reduced two hours each day and staff will be furloughed several days per month; creating safety issues for families and children needing protective orders. The closing of the courthouse and/or shortage of staff in the clerical offices due to rolling furlough days creates tension and discontent from the public. Public trust and confidence erodes as the public cannot be assisted as needed due to limited access.

If court operation hours are reduced, access to the Court would be limited. Thus, limiting access to the Court will cause the public to have to file for restraining orders at a law enforcement agency. This may cause people not to file if they have limited access to transportation, are confused about where to go,

4

are afraid of law enforcement (immigration status), etc. In turn, this may cause an increased likelihood of injury or death to the persons attempting to file the restraining orders.

Family and civil cases will get lowest priority, so these filings won't get the immediate action they need. Staff will fit this work in as they are able, which will result in delays and errors. Delays mean that hearings won't be set in time.

Clerk’s offices will reduce hours to the public by one third. The time it takes to get an emergency court order will be lengthened and people will not have access to assistance from law enforcement if they do not have a valid protective order.

Processing turnaround time would be extended by several days. They are currently processed within 24 hours. Getting cases calendared for court would be problematic. Court calendars would be chaotic.

Due to layoffs and Court location closures, Court could not guarantee compliance with the statutory requirement of issuance within 48 hours of submission resulting in statutory violation and public safety concerns. Further, public safety would be jeopardized and victims would remain unprotected if restraining orders are not entered into CLETS within statutory time limits.

4. Case Processing

Samples and highlights of responses received:Case processing standards would decline as a result of delays due to reduced staff, furlough days, and reduced Clerk’s Office hours. Case processing delays will affect the trial court justice partners: district attorney, public defender, probation, social services, mental health, and jails.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Civil Case Processing. Annually, nearly 600,000 documents are filed by the clerk's office. 80% of those

documents involve civil and probate cases, while the remaining 20% are family law related. Reductions in staff will cause significant delay in the processing of hundreds of thousands of documents and clerical errors will likely increase due to reduced staffing resources and necessary time pressure. With the reductions to funding, case processing will be increasingly delayed as significant numbers of experienced staff are laid off. Those remaining will need to be reorganized to best attend to the constitutionally and statutorily mandated work of the court. This may result in significant and persistent delays in all other case types, particularly in civil case processing. At a time where there are increases in various categories of civil filings, the increasing caseload will be subject to the availability of staff to process cases as possible, certainly leading to years of delay prior to trial.

Delays in receiving courtesy notices in infraction matters. Delays in the processing of documents submitted for filing and entry of judgment. Estimated delays could be up to one week more than currently providing.

Caseloads on calendars will be increased; new filings, on top of heavy caseloads in the courtroom, require overtime for staff, which the Court cannot afford with such a heavy reduction. Backlogs will increase.

All Court users [citizenry, LEA and other public agencies] will be adversely affected due to reduced staffing [hiring freeze and attrition losses] and shortened window operating hours at the two remaining

5

Clerk's Offices. The limited counter hours and staffing shortages will result in delayed case processing and calendaring for all matters others than those subject to statutory time requirements.

It will likely take two or three times as long as it does today to process any case filing that is presented to the court. The follow-up to court calendars will not be completed in a timely manner. This means future court dates will not be entered into the case management system, which will result in defendants, attorneys and witnesses appearing for a court date which the court does not have calendared and is not prepared to hear, which will then cause additional continuances, therefore adding to the backlog of cases waiting to be heard by a judge. Bench warrants will not be processed timely, again adding to the ever growing number of cases waiting to be disposed of. Criminal protective orders will not be timely provided to law enforcement agencies putting victims of crime at increased risk of additional violence.

Increased time to receive court orders for such things and civil judgments, divorce decrees, alimony and child support orders. Reduced staffing would create a delay in processing cases and documents, creating more public calls and research.

Public would not have immediate access to filed documents; Data entry and final judgments processing may be delayed; updates to case management systems would be backlogged causing the public website to be non-current. Eliminate multiple review settings for specialty courts. Eliminate all assigned judges - more calendars per judge.

More time searching for documents not in court files; judicial and Research Attorney time lost due to inability to research documents for upcoming hearings; JBSIS reporting could be inaccurate if not entered timely, file prepping for judges will be eliminated (judges will have to review own files). Reallocate any staff including Courtroom Clerks to assist in meeting priorities.

Failure to process case new filings and dispositions pursuant to law could result in lost income, loss of privileges (i.e., driver's license), loss of right to due process and custodial privileges in family law cases.

All Court resources would be targeted on those cases that had statutory priority. All other work would be delayed indefinitely. This would include: Default Judgments, Family Law Judgments, Issuance of Writs and Abstracts, orders after hearing, data entry of information into Case Management System, research and copy requests.

5. Family Law

Samples and highlights of responses received:The budget cuts will necessitate the closure of family law courtrooms, reduction in the availability of court appointed counsel, and the reduction or elimination of AB 1058 programs, resulting in delays in processing family law cases. Custody, support and divorce decisions would be delayed due to lack of adequate resources.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Budget reductions will force the closure of Family Law courtrooms. Delayed family law proceedings will

place children and families at risk economically and physically when support and visitation orders are not in place.

6

Significant reduction in the availability of court appointed counsel in custody and visitation disputes; inability to have custody and visitation disputes mediated prior to coming to court. Delays in hearings.

Cases under submission- public won't hear from the court on the ruling until last possible day because the workload doesn't give judges time to get anything done early. This impacts customer service and the public’s trust and confidence in the courts. Case calendaring would be changed all the time, impacting the citizens.

With closures, in addition to the travel inconvenience to the public (including members of the bar], Family Law cases would only be heard three (3) days each week [as compared to 5 days a week] because the other two court days are reserved for a full calendar of DCSS [family support] hearings. Thus, timely access to justice with respect to Family Law matters will suffer and a 40% growth in case backlog is foreseeable.

With the strict timelines attached to criminal cases, when resources are limited the staff hours are going to be shifted from civil and family law to criminal case processing. This is obviously going to result in significant delays, possibly years, in getting cases to contested hearing or trial. When child custody disputes are at-issue, time is of the essence. Often one parent is afraid the other parent will leave the County with the child or the child is in unsafe living conditions and without a court order parents have no way of keeping their children safe. If the court cannot hear these types of cases timely, we are putting these children at unnecessary and unreasonable risk. Additionally, if the court cannot hear child support cases timely, children will not have the necessary resources available to them, including food, clothing and medical expenses.

Custody, support and divorce decisions would be delayed due to lack of adequate resources based on several furlough days per month and layoffs. The lives of many adults and children will be affected not only monetarily but also within social family dynamics due to inaccessible court systems that are relied upon to sort out family disputes.

Increased time to receive court orders for such things and divorce decrees, alimony and child support orders. Reduced service hours, decreased access to the self-represented public (80% of our family law litigants), Increased workload on other agencies - Legal Aid, Napa Emergency Women's Shelter, Frustration to the public, leading to increased family problems and potentially an increase in family and domestic violence cases, Elimination of 2 of 3 court staff dedicated to Pro Per Services. Discontinuance of Self Help program at offsite locations leading to reduced public trust and confidence in the court. Reduced staffing in Court Reporters would require attorneys who want a court reporter to bring their own for cases that do not allow electronic recording (excluding contempt cases).

Emphasis would be placed on ensuring that criminal and juvenile cases meet statutory deadline, family law cases would suffer greatly in this regard. There would be a substantial delay in processing family law matters due to an inability to process court documents and placing files on calendars for hearings and trials. Operations would need to restructure the calendars that require a court reporter to consolidate those cases in to a limited number of courtrooms.

The Court supports family law and guardianship self-help services for a private contractor and fund this from the Court's operating budget. The Court will have to reduce its funding to this contractor, thereby reducing the amount of self-help services available to the public. Given that there is no lawyer referral service or other self-help agencies in the county, this will result in a significant reduction in self-help

7

services for litigants, will increase their frustration and will impact service levels at the clerk's office as clerks assist litigants as much as possible. Based on the lack of self-help available, there will be more continuances in the courtroom and longer hearings as judges spend additional time obtaining the evidence needed to make a fair decision. Longer turnaround time for completion of minute orders.

Very limited services would be provided since the court would have to focus on processing statutorily required documents. The public would wait months for a mediation appointment or a home evaluation; they would have to call the court to find out where their case sits in the process and get an estimate on when it will be resolved. Quick resolution of simple family law issues will be a thing of the past.

Family Law case type would be last priority for court staff to process. Mediation and evaluation appointments would be scheduled months out; self-help services would be scaled back or even eliminated which means more paperwork errors and rejected documents, increased hearings, and much longer public service lines.

(1) Less or no Student Workers to staff the viewing room and hand out forms and perform filing. Delayed ability to access records. Records will be incomplete because filing is not complete. This will delay hearings or make for erroneous orders because judicial officer do not have the complete record. (2) Reduction in funding to clinics will mean more Self-Represented Litigants without assistance. Hearings will be continued numerous times at $160/matter as litigants attempt to complete their pleadings without assistance or reduced assistance. (3) Mediations are already 12 weeks out. With further reductions in staff and closures, it will take litigants over 4 months to get an order on custody, visitation, or support. This will affect children directly and will put them in danger. (4) Clinical assistance will be reduced or non-existent for victims of domestic violence and self-help funds are diverted to mission critical functions. They will be put at risk. Additionally, Law Enforcement will be called upon more to issue Emergency Protective Orders in the field when Domestic Violence orders are not as readily available. (5) Delay in hearings for each closure. Five Departments at 20 OSCs on each closure. That is 100 matters that must be rescheduled elsewhere.

Delays in court calendaring of up to 5 months for child custody, dissolutions, and child and spousal support hearings; EZLegalFile program will be eliminated due to loss of AOC funding, which will result in greater burdens placed on Self Help Center and Family Law Clerks Office.

Due to layoffs and Court location closures, remaining Court facilities would experience a significant operational backlog in the processing of all filings and actions. Remaining staff will need to prioritize backlog between those actions that have statutory priority and those that do not. All actions without statutory priority will be delayed indefinitely. Specifically, a delay in calendaring hearings would occur. This would result in delay in family law judgments, a delay of dissolution judgments being filed and processed and a delay in an end date for marital status.

6. Domestic Violence

Samples and highlights of responses received:Significant time delays in processing domestic violence cases due to reduced staff, furlough days, and reduced Clerk’s Office hours, potentially causing safety issues for families and children.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: About 3,000 Domestic Violence (DV) cases are filed annually and are heard on dedicated DV calendars

for unrepresented litigants. These cases will be delayed due to the need to limit the locations that hear 8

these specific calendars. With the elimination of the Self Help Centers, no in-courtroom services will be available in DV courtrooms to provide services during pro per calendars. This support includes calculating child support, drafting orders, and assisting litigants with procedural information and instructions on completing forms. Lacking this support, increased delay in the DV courtrooms is assured.

Without the Self Help Center, collaborative partnerships such as those with Family Law Violence Center, Legal Assistance for Seniors, and Volunteer Legal Services Corp will cease to exist, leaving self-represented DV litigants without crucial support for their cases and putting individuals and families in increased danger.

Significant time delay in domestic violence cases (both criminal and family) since clerk's office hours will be reduced two hours each day and staff will be furloughed several days per month; creating potential safety issues for families and children. The closing of the courthouse and/or shortage of staff in the clerical offices due to rolling furlough days creates tension and discontent from the public. Public trust and confidence erodes as the public cannot be assisted as needed due to limited access.

Delay in notification to the Sheriff's office may result in properly filed restraining orders not being enforced which may place the petitioner of the restraining order in jeopardy

Closing the court 2 days a month and reducing our business hours Monday through Friday, we will be closed for an additional 868 hours to the public which will reduce domestic violence victim’s access to the court. This will cause delays in having their cases move through the system and could lead to further victimization.

There is a 48 hour statutory requirement from time of submission to input these into CLETS. High liability to Court if the information is not entered into CLETS timely. Victim is unprotected if law enforcement does not have access to restraining order information. Further, custody non-visitation orders would not be enforceable or known by law enforcement if information is not input into CLETS timely. Result is an impact on public safety. Due to layoffs and court location closures, remaining court facilities would experience a significant operational backlog in the processing of all filings and actions. Remaining staff will need to prioritize backlog between those actions that have statutory priority and those that do not. All actions without statutory priority will be delayed indefinitely.

7. Criminal

Samples and highlights of responses received:Courts will continue to meet statutory time requirements for criminal cases; however, reduced staff, furlough days, and reduced Clerk’s Office hours will result in longer wait times at the public counter and on the phone; backlogs in updating cases, and processing probation revocations and State Prison Abstract of Judgments. Only essential and mandatory hearings may be held. Specialty courts such as Drug Court, Homeless Court and Veteran’s Court may be eliminated due to lack of funding.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Services will be delayed for all case types. Speedy trials may be in jeopardy. Charges may be dismissed.

Arrested persons being released due to delay in processing criminal matters; may create a public safety issue; may add to overcrowding/and or early release from jail for those individuals that will not waive time. Word gets out, and repeat offenders know how to play the system. Inability to aggressively collect

9

past due fees/fines due to lack in workforce resulting in significant loss of revenue to the state/court/county/cities, etc. Negatively impacts various programs in our local communities.

Loss of funding may result in the following reductions in service to the public in the Criminal Division (including felony, misdemeanor, and infraction):-Reduced public hours, public not served in a timely fashion. Increased lines, waiting time, and time required for the public to conduct court business.-Limited telephone service.-Backlog in updating cases, resulting in warrants not being recalled promptly causing a liability to the

court for unlawful arrest. -Backlog of judicial calendar preparation, including the pulling and preparing of case files

- Delay in processing and filing new criminal complaints.-Backlog on processing probation revocations.-Backlog of monitoring and compliance with court orders, such as community service and weekend incarceration.-Staffing reductions may result in more senior, but not specifically trained, employees working in the criminal clerk's office which will result in further backlogs.-Backlog in preparing State Prison Abstract of Judgments, causing defendants to remain in county jail and delay their transfer to state prison. -Eliminate verification of prior records of conviction.

Inmates sit longer in jail after arrest; trials and settings are set further out. If Court Closures ordered, impacts jury and/or parties, as trials could be interrupted, resulting in a longer completion time. Time to trial increased.

Statutory time requirements shall continue to be met for all criminal case types, including misdemeanor and felony jury trials [including incarcerated felons], as well as habeas petitions and appeals. Limited counter hours, closed Courthouses [including Clerk's Offices therein] and staffing shortages will result in delayed processing some criminal case paperwork [i.e., prison packets, Abstracts of Judgment, JUS 8715's, etc] for justice partners and other outside agencies, while the general public will be afforded less opportunity to review files, access public terminals to view "sanitized" CMS data, and make in-person or phone inquiries re a defendant's status or next hearing.

Delay in processing paperwork could cause issues for the DA to prosecute cases due to lack of memory or witnesses moving out of area.

Delayed responses from the Court regarding copies and research. Current time standard for non-priority matters is 10 days would increase to 30 days. Priority time stands would go from 1 day to 15 days.

Order to show causes will be backlogs; failure to comply with probations and issuance of warrants, arraignments would not be held in a timely manner.

Slow service access to the courts, reduced availability of Spanish speaking employees to the public, potential case delays, delayed responses to inquires from the public and agencies. Reduced Judicial Reception services would create longer lines in the Criminal Division, including assistance with agency partners.

10

There will be a delay in processing the following: employment background checks, JUS 8715, statewide requests from the district attorney offices for certified criminal priors, research and copy requests. Currently, we are processing these within two to three weeks. We could see the processing time increase to four months. Criminal could see a maximum wait time at the counter to be two and half hours.

Increased delay in (1) warrant recalls; (2) reporting to DOJ, DMV, etc.; (3) processing restraining orders; (4) public searches; (5) processing of refunds; and (6) referrals for delinquent debt collection. Also, further increase in continuances and reduced service at public counters, phone, email, etc.

Those matters reaching mandatory deadlines will take precedence over all other trials. Worst case scenario – we would have to dismiss cases because courtrooms available would not be available.Specialty courts like Drug Court, Homeless Court, and Veteran’s Court will not have funding to continue. These matters will be diverted back into the general calendar creating an impact. Further, deferred sentencing will not occur and these defendants will add to overcrowding in local jails. Substance Abuse Assessment will be impacted by increased caseloads and inability to staff the department. Assessments will not be completed timely causing more continuances in the courtroom calendars.

It will be difficult to process criminal cases in a timely manner due to our 30% reduction in staff which represents 101 positions. This could lead to cases being dismissed due to statutory time limits being missed, which reduces public safety. Alternatively, defendants who are seeking resolution to their criminal matters will be impacted, as there will be fewer staff designated to process criminal cases and defendants will have to wait longer for a trial department to open up for their jury trial. Victims will be left waiting for justice. Additional impacts to the public and other agencies will be the following: (1) The court's inability to process cases in a timely manner will negatively impact the public's perception of the court's ability to provide procedural fairness; (2) The public will have to wait longer in line to receive services; (3) the court may need to consider closing the door to the public during the noon hour; (4) The court will need to consider further reducing the hours of operation at all of its locations; and (5) there will be a reduction or delay in revenue.

Cases will be backlogged in processing and in courtrooms. Conviction paperwork needed by other agencies in the state will be severely delayed. Gangs will not be prevented from spreading and victimizing the general public. Property crimes will continue to increase.

8. Civil

Samples and highlights of responses received:Courtroom closures, limited counter hours, reduced Clerk’s Office hours, and staffing shortages will result in delayed processing of civil cases. Documents such as writs, abstracts, default judgments, and orders after hearing will be delayed. Courts may be unable to meet statutory requirements of unlawful detainers.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Potential elimination of the Complex Litigation program will result in approximately 300 highly complex

cases being significantly delayed. The Court Mediation Program will be eliminated. The adjudication of these civil cases will only be at the 5 year statute. Access to justice for thousands of litigants will be delayed, if not denied.

11

No court reporter in law and motion GD70045.77. Delay in adjudication. No record of proceedings. Court, public and agencies unable to obtain transcripts of the proceedings.

With only one person working in the civil department it would take longer for all civil cases to be processed, our civil clerks handle civil, family law, family support and small claims. The turnaround time for civil paperwork would double and the public would get upset with the amount of time it takes for their civil cases to be completed.

There will be a delay in processing the following: Judgments, orders, dismissals, writs, abstracts, research and copy requests. Currently documents of this nature are processed within 30 - 45 days. We could see that increase to 60 - 90 days. Additionally, our maximum wait times to assist the public at our front counter could increase to 2 hours. Maximum wait times to assist the public on the phone could increase to 1.5 hours.

This case type would be last priority for court staff to process and as a result, backlogs would be huge. The court would eliminate programs offered to the civil litigants to include specialized ADR programs, judicial mediation, self-help, etc. The court would eliminate all assigned judges covering for civil assignments, thus increasing the workload for the other civil bench officers and increasing delays.

Civil Harassment clinics will be reduced or non-existent as funds are diverted to mission-critical function;trials will be continued as courtrooms are used to hear criminal matters that are at statutory deadline. (Riverside model); and lack of staffing will require available clerks and reporters to be diverted to criminal courtrooms where staffing is a priority (dark courtrooms).

Reductions in case management and court sponsored mediation services will significantly increase the number of cases going to trial, resulting in up to a 1 year delay in disposition of civil cases. EZLegalFile program will be eliminated due to loss of funding, which will result in greater burdens placed on Self Help Center and Civil Clerk's Office.

Focus of the Court would be on high priority cases that must be processed immediately due to statutory consequences. All filings or actions without statutory priority would be delayed indefinitely and filing fees submitted on these matters would not be processed timely. Collection agencies would not be able to move forward timely on collection actions and unlawful detainers would not be heard timely resulting in a direct impact to local business.

9. Traffic

Samples and highlights of responses received:Services will be delayed, including delays in sending courtesy notices, processing refunds on bail, and setting calendar dates. Backlogs in processing traffic citations and payments will result.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: The consequences of the budget reduction may include the following:

-Elimination of night court for all traffic matters, resulting in additional delays and calendars set further out.-Backlog of approximately 5,000 unprocessed new traffic citations each month, resulting in delayed revenue and frustrated motorists who attempt to pay citations on time.-Backlog in processing case payments, resulting in the loss of revenue in the Immediate & Critical

12

Needs Account (ICNA) and Court Security funds as well as the civil assessment as well as the state penalty and city revenue. - Limited telephone service available.-Reduced public hours would result in the public not being served in a timely fashion.- The total number of traffic calendars will decrease due to reduced staffing levels.-If qualified and experienced staff is laid off, and resources are re-allocated, staff available will likely be unfamiliar with the subject matter, which will lead to further backlogs.-Increased lines at each courthouse requiring the public to queue before dawn to guarantee being heard on a given day.-Increased demand on the clerk's office to answer questions and provide assistance in person.

Services will be delayed and backlog in processing will result. Delay in processing cases through enhanced collection process. Slow collection of revenue to state.

Longer lines and wait times, delayed calendar dates, refunds on bail may take 60 - 90 days longer than currently. This could cause a delay in the public being able to comply with court orders. State, County, City, and other entities' revenue may be decreased due to potential backlogs incurred from freezing of vacancies and court closure days.

It's very likely that the court would be unable to process traffic tickets in a timely manner. It could take 6 months or more from the time a member of the public receives the traffic citation to the time the court could process the ticket. There would also be long lines at the clerk's counters, long delays in scheduling court trials, and possibly additional travel time if the Clearlake facility is closed.

Staff-intensive processing of traffic tickets would be affected. Extant time to trial of 9 months would grow rapidly, effectively removing the incentive of the public to resolve their tickets.

With fewer resources, the public will be required to wait longer and/or not have their traffic citation information in a timely manner. This creates more phone calls and increased work for traffic staff at a time when they have fewer resources due to furlough days and/or layoffs. This affects the public's accessibility to the courts as well as their trust and confidence in a fair justice system.

Longer time for input of traffic citations; reduced staff to answer questions, receive payments; longer lines at counter; longer response time for telephone inquiries; increased customer frustration with regular traffic cases and with questions and concerns about the amnesty program.

With no night court and a reduced number of courthouses open, members of the public would need to take more time off work to resolve their traffic matters. The public will have an increased need to contact the court to ascertain the delay in their traffic case. The ability to drive means livelihood for millions of California residents; delays in reporting to the DMV mean they must wait longer to have their driving records and privileges restored.

Reduced services may result in forcing people who cannot pay fines to drive unlicensed (i.e. job in jeopardy - Truck Drivers.)

Time to trial will be impacted and litigants will wait over 6 months until time of trial. Currently the wait is 3-4 months with 80 trials per day. Collection of fines and assessments delayed due to lack of resources.

13

Public will have to wait close to 3 hours in line before making in-person payments or receiving counter assistance. Defendants will have to wait 10 months before receiving a trial.

Delay in arraignments of up to 90 days; Due to reductions in calendars, final resolutions may be delayed in excess of 1 year.

Obtaining a court date will become very difficult. The public would not be able to speak with a clerk over the telephone. Dangerous drivers will remain on the streets. Traffic accidents will result and people will be hurt. Reporting to DMV could not be done within the necessary timeframe so that people would have holds placed on their drivers licenses.

Increase in backlogs; non-compliance with the audit guidelines and procedures in the areas requiring dual custodies; inability to enforce collection of court ordered fines and fees.

Open Arraignment Traffic Court - Court will eliminate open arraignment and will push all of these functions to the clerk's office.

10. Other

Samples and highlights of responses received:Other areas identified by courts that would affect critical services to the public include elimination of annual conservatorship investigations; reduction or elimination of CASA funding; impact on the local economy as a result of layoffs; and discontinuance of bilingual outreach services.

Excerpts from trial court surveys: Limited Elder Abuse Court programming. A budget reduction of this magnitude would limit the number

of matters on calendar.

Collaborative Courts-A reduction in the collaborative court programs would result in fewer people having access to these therapeutic courts. It is likely that there will be an increase in recidivism rates as these courts have proven to have a higher success rate than the typical, punitive criminal court. Thus, there may be an increased risk to public safety as substance abusers would be more likely to re-offend.

Elimination of the Homeless/Caring Court program. This innovative program that brings the Court to shelters would be eliminated for lack of available staff. Despite a small grant to fund a program coordinator, the Court will be unable to provide any court staff to prepare files, maintain statistics and reports, and support the off-site program. Annually, 350 homeless and needy individuals participate in Homeless Court and more than 1,200 cases are adjudicated. These low-level misdemeanor and infraction cases will be included in regular criminal calendars where these defendants are unlikely to appear or pay related fines.

Potentially, no court participation in community Clean Slate events. Last December, 130 people participated in the Clean Slate calendar to dismiss outstanding fines based on their achievements and positive impact that adjudication would have on their lives. With this funding reduction, the Court would be unable to support the clerical requirements of this program or the additional court resources needed to participate.

14

Eliminate participation in East Bay Stand Down, leaving more than 91 homeless veterans with more than 380 outstanding cases without biannual court assistance.

Elimination of the Parolee Re-Entry Court calendar or programming once funding is exhausted in December 2011.

Juvenile: Only services related to supporting judicial calendars will be done. Fewer non-mandated reviews can be set - staffing resources unable to support. Families in Dependency will have less oversight by the court and termination of parental rights will increase. Diversion options for minors in Juvenile Justice may be decreased - less staff to support calendars for reviews.

Juvenile: Discontinue Dependency Mediation (not mandated). Backlogs in noticing agencies and DOJ abstracts - 1 mo. Cannot support programs/services if special grant funds are eliminated. More contested matters if no mediations. All judges will have to absorb specialty court matters - handle in traditional way - no time for therapeutic approach.

Juvenile - Annually, there are 2,900 delinquency cases filed, and as a result of these budget cuts, these cases will be delayed. The consequences would be a violation of statutorily mandated time frames if the juvenile did not waive time. It would be an egregious violation of due process in the timeframe of a proceeding resulting in the matter being dismissed, which raises issues of public safety.

Annually, there are 1,100 abuse and neglect proceedings filed in the Court as dependency cases. These budget reductions will result in the delay of dependency proceedings. The consequence of this delay is that time frames will not be met and minors may be returned to dangerous home environments, which could result in the injury or death of a child. Further, those minors who are in need of critical medical procedures or medications will require court orders for these situations. The proposed reduction in funding would curtail the ability to access judicial officers who can authorize those vital procedures or medications.

Juvenile-Service would be provided for the statutorily required areas (delinquency and detention). Less resources for dependency cases means that children will be separated from their families and remain in abusive homes longer than necessary. Parents will remain under a cloud of suspicion of abuse until their dependency case is resolved.

Juvenile-Delay in processing cases and court proceedings could result in children being left in jeopardy if not removed from the custody of their parents and placed with a legal guardian/relative as quickly as possible. It would also impact conservatorship cases making it difficult to provide timely mandatory reviews and increase the risk of abuse for conservatees.

Discontinue bilingual outreach services - no on site Spanish services.

Small Claims Advisory-Access to justice will be adversely affected since errors by litigants will likely increase causing increased workload on the clerks and the small claims proceedings. Hearings likely will take longer causing fewer hearings to be heard each day which will result in backlogs. In the small claims advisory program, student workers and law clerks have logged over 9,500 hours in the past year and would no longer be used to assist small claims litigants. Currently, 75 walk-in litigants are assisted daily and the small claims advisory staff answers well over 200 calls daily.

15

Small Claims-Eliminated the small claims legal advisor program. No longer offer service by certified mail as the allowable reimbursement amount exceeds the actual costs.

Probate: Court Investigators - eliminate investigations for temporary conservatorships/guardianships - will need to have a court hearing to get temp orders. Already existing backlogs in reviews would increase - 2 yrs now - 4 yrs. Impact will be seen in reviews for developmentally disabled. Probate examiners will not be able to review files for judge or do only a limited review before court. No more assistance for attorneys who have process/procedural questions. No family conferencing for guardianships.

More judicial hearings to order temporary guardianships/conservatorships. Hearings will be set further out than currently. Settings in 2 weeks - may be 4 weeks, expect in guardianships/conservatorships - longer.

Probate Investigator-Eliminate certain services provided by this position until the Legislature makes an appropriation identified for those purposes. Required reports would be contracted out. Parties would lose the consistency of working with same investigator. Cases may fall through the cracks.

Conservatorship Investigations-If our funding was cut as proposed we would have to discontinue all investigations. We would not be able to comply with the mandatory requirements and some conserved individuals may be at risk.

AB1058 - Child Support Commissioner and Family Law Facilitator Program-Eliminating the Family Law Facilitator program will greatly reduce the public's access to justice as our program serves hundreds of pro-per litigants each month. Litigants will not be prepared for their court case, which will in turn slow down the court process. With the elimination of the AB1058 Child support Commissioner, child support cases will take longer to be calendared and resolved. This will lead to delays in child support orders being made and could cause hardships on families that need financial support. We will no longer be able to offer pro-per litigants self help assistance which will cause errors in their paperwork and can cause delays in case resolution.

Lay off all Court Commissioners-The elimination of all Court Commissioners will severely impact the public. Impacts to the public and other agencies will be as follows: (1) The court's inability to process cases will negatively impact the public's perception of the court's ability to provide procedural fairness; and (2) there will be a reduction or delay in revenue as several of our commissioners hear traffic and infraction calendars.

Jury Compliance Program-Jury pools will be less representative of our local communities and will impact

jury selection in both criminal and civil cases. We will have to discontinue our Kleps Award winning Jury Compliance Program. With the shortages in staff and judicial resources, we will have to concentrate our efforts on the most pressing cases, criminal.

Pro-per and Self-Help Center-Impacts to the public will be as follows: (1) Pro-per litigants will have to find free help and guidance elsewhere; (2) Pro per litigants will have less understanding of the court process and therefore, will be less prepared for court, which will lead to procedural delays; and (3) Lack of understanding and delays will negatively impact the public's perception of the court's ability to provide procedural fairness.

16

CAC: One of the biggest challenges in a rural county is attracting and retaining a qualified pool of attorneys under contract. Trinity is located in a remote mountain community and we are limited in having sufficient resources that possess the mandated juvenile law education requirements. Properly compensating these attorneys for the amount of time required for these types of cases is crucial.

Labor Issues-Due to the severity of the cuts that will have to be implemented, there will be a significant increase in collective bargaining related to impacts and decisions, grievances, labor disputes, job actions, Unfair Labor Practice/PERB charges related to cost cutting measures which will have significant impact on court employees. Decreased productivity with increased cost to defend actions is not in the public's interest.

Court reporters will no longer be used unless there is a statutory requirement to utilize their services.

Fiscal/Finance-Delay in reconciling accounts that would also delay in processing refunds and victim checks; delay in paying miscellaneous invoices and claims from vendors.

IT Data Management - The court planned to implement a document management system, which would have facilitated online access to filed documents and eventually e-filing. These functions would provide the public with greater access to the court. The court's ability to move forward with a document management system will be impacted. Reserves the court had set aside to purchase and implement a system will now be needed to support operations.

Delays in reporting case disposition information to the Department of Justice will cause a variety of significant consequences. It could cause an individual to lose a job, if an arrest is reported but no disposition data is reported. If a defendant reoffends in another county, there is a possibility that the District Attorney will not have all of the prior criminal history when charging the new crime and could possibly charge incorrectly. To compound the problem of delayed reporting to DOJ, when a case disposition is not reported, the DOJ or other criminal justice agencies will contact the court to determine what the disposition was. This causes additional work for staff. These types of research requests are often put at the bottom of the priority list and could be delayed months with these types of staff reductions.

One of the most significant consequences with this level of reduction is the amount of errors staff is likely to make. As workloads increase errors increase as well. Errors can have devastating consequences on members of the public, for example tenants can be wrongfully evicted, individuals can be charged incorrect fees & fines, case dispositions are reported incorrectly.

One additional indirect impact of these reductions (layoffs and furloughs) is the impact it would have on our local economy as well as the statewide economy assuming there are other courts that would be in a similar position. Those who are laid off are going to put additional strain on the social programs such as Unemployment Insurance and food stamps. Those employees who remain will be cautious about spending money on anything other than the essentials, food, gas, etc. Thereby further delaying any economic recovery.

17