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Trial Court Allocations: General Court Operations and Specific Costs for Fiscal Year 2017-2018 (Action Required)
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Summary
Summary
For 2017-2018, the Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee recommends the Judicial Council allocate $1.849 billion to the trial courts from the Trial Court Trust Fund (TCTF) and state General Fund for general court operations and specific costs. The recommended allocations include $1.821 billion in 2017-2018 beginning base funding for general court operations, each court’s share of $4.8 million in new funding for non-interpreter employee benefits, a statewide net reallocation of $720.2 million for general court operations using the Workload-Based Allocation and Funding Methodology (WAFM), a net zero allocation for the WAFM funding-floor adjustment, a preliminary one-time allocation reduction related to the 1 percent cap on trial court fund balances, $22 million in new funding for reimbursement of court-appointed dependency counsel costs, and $9.2 million for criminal justice realignment costs. Assuming approval of the allocations and given current revenue projections and estimated savings from appropriations, the TCTF will end 2017-2018 with a fund balance of $27.2 million, of which approximately $10.4 million will be unrestricted.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
The Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee recommends that the Judicial Council, effective July 28, 2017:
1. Approve the 2017-2018 beginning base allocation for court operations of $1.821 billion (see Attachment 1F, column 9), which carries forward the ending 2016-2017 TCTF base allocation (column 6), and adds the General Fund benefits base allocation (column 7) and adjustments to annualize partial-year allocations made in 2016-2017 (column 8) (see Attachment 1B, column 1).
2. Allocate a total of $4.8 million for non-interpreter employee benefits funding from the TCTF for each court’s share of 2016-2017 cost changes in the Budget Act of 2017 (the remaining $174,000 provided for 2016-2017 court interpreter benefits cost changes would be added to the TCTF Court Interpreter Program 0150037). (See Attachment 1B, column 2.)
3. Allocate each court’s share from the TCTF using the 2017-2018 WAFM consisting of a reallocation of 50 percent ($720.2 million) and an additional $233.8 million of courts’ historical WAFM-related base allocation of $1.44 billion, and reallocation of $233.8 million in new funding provided from 2013-2014 through 2016-2017 for general court operations for general court operations for a net zero total allocation (see Attachment 1B, column 3).
4. Allocate each court’s share of the 2017-2018 WAFM funding-floor allocation adjustment, which includes funding-floor allocations in which six courts receive a total of $321,949 in floor adjustments and all other courts are allocated a reduction totaling $321,949, for a net zero total allocation (see Attachment 1B, column 4).
5. Approve a one-time allocation of $9.2 million for criminal justice realignment costs from the TCTF based on the most current available postrelease community supervision (PRCS) and parole workload data submitted to the Judicial Council’s Criminal Justice Services office pursuant to Penal Code section 13155 (see Attachment 1B, column 5).
6. Approve a preliminary one-time allocation reduction of $7.77 million to 16 courts that are projecting the portion of their 2016-2017 ending fund balance that is subject to the 1 percent fund balance cap to exceed the cap by $7.77 million, as required by statute (see Attachment 1B, column 6).
7. Approve an allocation of $22 million in new funding from the Trial Court Trust Fund for reimbursement of court-appointed dependency counsel costs based on the Judicial Council-approved allocation methodology as follows: Allocate $22 million to trial courts with a ratio of 2017-2018 base funding to their workload-based funding need that is below the statewide ratio of 2017-2018 base funding to funding needed to meet the workload standard for juvenile dependency (see Attachment 1B, column 7).
8. Allocate $14.66 million from the Programs 0140010 and 0150095 TCTF Judicial Council and Trial Court Operations appropriations (see Attachment 1D, column F) and $157.6 million from the Program 0150010-Support for Operation of the Trial Courts appropriation (see Attachment 1E, column C, rows 21-28).
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Speakers
Speakers
Hon. Jonathan B. Conklin, Chair, Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee
Mr. Zlatko Theodorovic, Budget Services