SCR 196: Judicial Council: 100th anniversary.

WHEREAS, In 1926, Californians established what is now known as the Judicial Council to bring greater consistency, fairness, and public service to the state’s courts, beginning a century of judicial branch governance and leadership to advance the statewide administration of justice; and

WHEREAS, In its early decades, the Judicial Council confronted a system that included 768 inferior courts in seven categories, and guided landmark reforms that ultimately enabled voters to approve voluntary trial court unification. By 2001, all 58 counties had operating single superior courts; and

WHEREAS, To promote stable and equitable court funding across counties, the Judicial Council’s longstanding advocacy led to the Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act of 1997, which consolidated trial court funding at the state level; and

WHEREAS, The Judicial Council supported transformative governance changes, including the 2000 Trial Court Employment Protection and Governance Act, which transitioned approximately 17,000 court employees from county to superior court employment; and

WHEREAS, The Judicial Council also supported the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, which shifted responsibility for more than 450 court facilities to the judicial branch and subsequently helped launch one of the largest courthouse construction programs in state history; and

WHEREAS, In the new century, the Judicial Council has strengthened transparency and accountability with an emphasis on improving statewide court data collection and analysis across all areas of court operations. By approving an open meetings rule, the Judicial Council has expanded public access to its advisory body meetings; and

WHEREAS, The Judicial Council has expanded access to justice by supporting myriad other judicial administration programs and services, including the establishment of more than 400 collaborative justice programs, creation of self‑help centers in all 58 counties, and implementation of a statewide Language Access Plan to broaden interpreter services and multilingual resources, among other initiatives; and

WHEREAS, Working closely with the Legislature, the Judicial Council continues to improve the court user experience through innovations and partnerships that promote fairness, clarity, and consistency statewide; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature honors and commemorates the Judicial Council’s 100th anniversary; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the authors for appropriate distribution.