Futures Commission Posts More Information on Proposed Concepts

December 1, 2015

Futures Commission Posts More Information on Proposed Concepts for Court System

SAN FRANCISCO—The Commission on the Future of California’s Court System has posted further details on concepts it is exploring during its Dec. 8 public comment session: the equal distribution of judgeships throughout the state, court funding, collection of court fines and fees, and how best to process traffic infractions.

Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye appointed commission members in February and charged them with proposing recommendations for making the court system more efficient and effective.

Proposed Concepts
The commission posted more information on each of the four initial concepts, including why they are being considered and the goals/strategies behind them. Those ideas include:

• Judgeships: Explore a mechanism within the judicial branch for more equitable distribution of judgeships based on workload
   
• Trial Court Funding: Simplify court fines and fees to make them equitable and aligned with offenses, and explore a new funding structure for the courts that is less reliant on the collection of these fines and fees
   
• Court-ordered Debt: Uniform data reporting and collection efforts to effectively monitor outstanding fines and fees and ensure they are paid
   
• Traffic Infractions: Explore decriminalizing traffic infractions and/or moving them to an administrative or a non-criminal forum
   

The commission’s Dec.8 public comment session on the four concepts will take place from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in San Francisco. Written comment is also invited. The public can listen to the comment session remotely by calling into a listen-only phone line.

Additional sessions are planned for early next year to solicit input on additional commission concepts.

Comment Procedures
Members of the public may submit written comments on the concepts in advance or request to speak at the public comment session. For more information, view the comment procedures posted on the California Courts website.