Suspension and allocation of vacant judgeships.

Existing law specifies the number of judges for the superior court of each county. Existing law allocates additional judgeships to the various counties in accordance with 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 specified criteria, including, among others, workload standards that represent the average amount of time of bench and nonbench work required to resolve each case type. This bill would require the suspension of 4 vacant judgeships, as defined, from superior courts with more authorized judgeships than their assessed judicial need and would require the allocation of 4 judgeships to superior courts with fewer authorized judgeships than their assessed judicial need. The bill would require the suspension and allocation of judgeships to be based on a superior court's assessed judicial need in accordance with the uniform standards described above. The bill would require the Judicial Council, if a vacant judgeship is eligible for suspension, to promptly notify the court with the vacant judgeship, the Legislature, and the Governor that the judgeship is subject to suspension, provide an adequate opportunity for public comment, and, after consideration of any comments received, determine if the vacant judgeship should be suspended. The bill would require the Judicial Council to promptly notify the court with the vacant judgeship, the Legislature, and the Governor of its decision regarding suspension of the judgeship. The bill would provide that a court in which a vacant judgeship is suspended will not have its funding allocation reduced or any of its funding shifted or transferred as a result of, or in connection with, the suspension of a vacant judgeship. This bill would also make a statement of legislative intent regarding the authority of the Legislature, the Governor, and the Chief Justice of California.