Judicial Council adopts formal methodology for future trial court funding reductions and restorations

The Judicial Council voted to adopt formal methodologies to allocate potential future funding reductions and restorations for trial courts, creating predictable, equity‑focused rules for cuts and partial restorations.

Judge Conklin and Judicial Council staff presented three categories of methods: reductions identified for a future fiscal year, reductions occurring in the same fiscal year, and restorations provided in a future fiscal year. The approach for future reductions reverses the existing workload formula equity adjustment used for increases so that courts above the statewide funding average take proportionally larger reductions; courts within a 4% band around the statewide average take a proportional share; and below‑average courts receive smaller proportional reductions. As the presenter said, the methodology is intended to “support equity” and be transparent so courts can plan ahead.

For restorations in the same fiscal year, the council will recalculate the original methodology using the restored funding level (the presentation used the recent example of a $97 million reduction partially restored by $42 million). For restorations in a later fiscal year, the methodology gives the first 50% of any restoration to courts below the statewide funding average and allocates the remaining 50% to all courts, supporting an equity objective.

The council approved the recommendations after a motion on the floor; staff said the new approach will let courts model the effects of proposed budget changes and enable the Judicial Council to communicate court‑level impacts to the Legislature and Department of Finance.

Council members praised the work of the advisory committee and trial court participants on the methodology; the decision formalizes practices previously applied ad hoc during earlier reductions.