Title
Title
Trial Courts: Trial Court Financial Policies and Procedures Manual (10th ed.) (Action Required)
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Summary
Summary
Judicial Council staff recommends adoption of the Trial Court Financial Policies and Procedures Manual (TCFPPM), tenth edition. The manual was last updated in 2018. The TCFPPM requires both substantive and nonsubstantive revisions to maintain clarity and update and improve the existing system of internal fiscal controls in accordance with California Rules of Court, rule 10.804.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
Judicial Council staff recommend the Judicial Council, effective May 17, 2019, adopt the tenth edition of the Trial Court Financial Policies and Procedures Manual, which:
1. Clarified Judicial Council staff’s responsibility to prepare financial policies and procedures for trial courts;
2. Added language recognizing trial court use of electronic documents and electronic signatures;
3. Clarified the commonly used fund types and added corresponding fund numbers utilized within the Phoenix Financial System;
4. Added language to clarify the impact of unused Court Facilities Architectural Revolving Fund (CAFRF) funds on the 1 percent fund balance calculation;
5. Updated the noncompetitive bid threshold to $9,999 and merged the low-value purchase threshold with the small purchase threshold;
6. Removed the requirement for original documents in many situations to align with the use of electronic documents;
7. Inserted a recommendation to contact the Trial Court Administrative Services Trust Unit for foreign check handling instructions;
8. Added restitution to the types of payments that may be made with credit and debit cards to more accurately align with Government Code section 6159;
9. Updated the record retention period table to reduce the banking records retention period to current year plus four additional years;
10. Added a new subsection recognizing that electronic records satisfy laws requiring records retention for evidentiary and audit purposes under Civil Code section 1633.12;
11. Modified the language regarding bail deposits to more accurately reflect the language in Penal Code section 1431; and
12. Added a new subsection introducing the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS), which increases controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud.