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Judicial branch May revision trims pretrial funding and proposes jury program reversions
Summary
The May revision to the judicial branch budget includes one-time transfers, reductions to pretrial release funding, reversion of unspent jury-pilot funds and other technical changes; LAO and committee members flagged potential impacts on pretrial services and court operations.
Department of Finance and the Judicial Council presented the May revision proposals for the judicial branch, which include a mix of one-time transfers, ongoing reductions and statutory changes.
Mark Jimenez of the Department of Finance told the subcommittee the May revision includes a proposed $38 million one-time transfer of unrestricted trial court trust fund balances to the general fund, a $20 million general fund reduction to the pretrial release program (from about $70 million to $50 million ongoing), and a reversion of up to $27.5 million of unspent jury duty pilot funds pursuant to AB 1981. The Department also proposed a $20 million one-time reduction to the pretrial release program by reversion in the current year and other adjustments to courthouse construction funds.
Anita Lee of the Legislative Analyst’s Office recommended the Legislature add reporting and oversight language before any transfer of unrestricted funds. She warned that the proposed $20 million reduction to the pretrial release program could reduce service levels and might result in longer pretrial detention in some counties, depending on local distribution and whether courts and probation departments were already spending their allocations. The LAO recommended the Legislature require clearer budget-bill language and to weigh trade-offs given the state's fiscal condition.
Committee members pressed Department of Finance officials on the practical impact of a $20 million reduction. Assemblymember McConnell and Vice Chair Lackey asked specifically whether the cut could mean people are detained longer pretrial. LAO analysts said impacts could differ by county and might include longer pretrial detention or fewer release options. The Judicial Council said it was still assessing impacts and that courts and probation agencies vary in how they use funds. The Judicial Council and LAO also noted that the jury duty pilot program had collected six months of data and agreed to provide a report back to the Legislature.
No formal vote was taken during the hearing. The committee requested more detail on how reallocations would be reported and asked the Judicial Council and Department of Finance to provide further analysis on county-level impacts of the pretrial funding reduction before final budget decisions.
