(a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature in the 2006–07 fiscal year, there shall be 50 additional judges allocated to the various superior courts pursuant to the uniform criteria described in subdivision (b) for determining the need for additional superior court judges.
(b) The judges shall be allocated, in accordance with the uniform standards for factually determining additional judicial need in each county, as updated and approved by the Judicial Council, pursuant to the Update of Judicial Needs Study, based on the following criteria:
(1) Court filings data averaged over a period of three years.
(2) Workload standards that represent the average amount of time of bench and nonbench work required to resolve each case type.
(3) A ranking methodology that provides consideration for courts that have the greatest need relative to their current complement of judicial officers.
(c) (1) The Judicial Council shall report to the Legislature and the Governor on or before November 1 of every even-numbered year on the factually determined need for new judgeships in each superior court using the uniform criteria for allocation of judgeships described in subdivision (b), as updated and applied to the average of the prior three years’ filings.
(2) On or before November 30, 2011, the Judicial Council shall provide to the Legislature a special assessment of the need for new judgeships in the family law and juvenile law assignments for each superior court.
(3) The Judicial Council shall report, beginning with the report due to the Legislature on November 1, 2012, on the implementation and effect of subparagraph (C) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 69615.
(Amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 311, Sec. 2. (AB 2745) Effective January 1, 2015.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018