Court facilities financing.

Existing law establishes the Immediate and Critical Needs Account of the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, the proceeds of which may be used for the planning, design, construction, rehabilitation, renovation, replacement, or acquisition of court facilities, for the repayment of moneys appropriated for lease of court facilities pursuant to the issuance of lease-revenue bonds, and for the payment for lease or rental of court facilities. Existing law also requires any moneys remaining in, or that would otherwise be payable into, the Immediate and Critical Needs Account of the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, to be transferred to the Controller for deposit into the State Trial Court Operations Trust Fund, upon the retirement of any bonded indebtedness that may be incurred in connection with immediate and critical trial court projects. This bill also would authorize the proceeds of the Immediate and Critical Needs Account to be used for payment of service contracts. The bill would require any moneys remaining, upon the retirement of all bonded indebtedness incurred in connection with the immediate and critical trial court projects, to be transferred to the Controller for deposit into the State Trial Court Operations Trust Fund. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to collect and make available information regarding moneys in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account, as specified, and to make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature for projects based on its determination that the need for a project is most immediate and critical, as specified. This bill would instead require the Judicial Council to make recommendations to the State Public Works Board before it undertakes projects based on its determination that the need for a project is most immediate and critical, subject to the availability of funds in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account, as specified. This bill would authorize the Judicial Council, upon certification of the availability of funds and establishment of the project scope and cost by the State Public Works Board, to acquire real property and complete preliminary plans, as provided. This bill would require the Judicial Council to report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairs of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review and the Assembly Committee on Budget both prior to seeking the board's establishment of project scope and cost, and by March 1 of each year on the status of each project, as provided. This bill would continuously appropriate the Immediate and Critical Needs Account, until July 1, 2012, for the purpose of acquiring real property and completing preliminary plans. Existing law specifies various uniform fees for filing specified documents in connection with certain civil proceedings, including a fee schedule for filing a first petition or first account in connection with a trust or estate. Existing law also provides for a specified portion of all of those fees to be deposited into the Immediate and Critical Needs Account. This bill would specify the date that will be used for the calculation of the portion to be transferred.