Budget Committee to Discuss Trial Court Allocations

July 3, 2013

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Budget Committee to Discuss Trial Court Allocations

Marks the first time the budget advisory committee will meet in public

SAN FRANCISCO—The Judicial Council committee that will recommend how trial court funding should be allocated in the new fiscal year will meet in open session July 9, according to Sacramento Presiding Judge Laurie M. Earl and the Administrative Office of Courts Director of Fiscal Services Zlatko Theodorovic, co-chairs of the Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee. The committee is scheduled to present its recommendations to the Judicial Council on July 25.

Currently, the chair of an advisory committee has the discretion of opening committee meetings to the public. “As chairs of this important committee,” Judge Earl said, “Mr. Theodorovic and I feel the process of deciding how taxpayer money will be distributed to the trial courts for the benefit of the public is an appropriate topic for an open meeting.”

Justice Douglas P. Miller, the chair of the Judicial Council’s Executive and Planning Committee, welcomed Judge Earl’s decision. “I appreciate Judge Earl’s initiative,” said Justice Miller. “We’re months away from developing a proposed rule on public access to appropriate committee meetings. I agree with Judge Earl that the upcoming budget meeting is indeed an appropriate one to open.”

The meeting will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Judicial Council Conference Center, Hiram Johnson State Office Building, Third Floor, Ronald M. George State Office Complex, 455 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco. A live audiocast of the meeting will be on the California Courts website and the agenda and reports are posted online.