May 5, 1999

The Task Force on Trial Court Employees

455 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102-3660

May 7, 1999

TO: Employees of California’s trial courts, the Governor of the State of California, Members of the Legislature, the Judicial Council, the judiciary, the trial courts, counties, local and state employee organizations, and other interested parties:

The attached document is the interim report of the Legislative Task Force on Trial Court Employees and discusses the development of and the considerations behind the recommendations made by the task force. The task force was created by AB 233, the Lockyer-Isenberg Trial Court Funding Act of l997, for the purpose of recommending a personnel system for the trial courts in California.

I ask you to read this document carefully and give the task force the benefit of your views and your questions. (Part VII of the interim report provides information about the format and deadline for submission of comment.)

This project is massive in scope and complexity. The trial court system has over 18,000 trial court employees that will be affected. The final recommendation of the task force shall take effect upon acceptance by the Legislature and the Governor of the State of California and will affect the personnel structure of the trial courts in California’s 58 counties.

From the outset, the task force has maintained consistent objectives to produce a personnel system that would provide for:

Local trial court management;
Maintenance of current trial court employee benefits and salaries;
A System that respects the rights and contributions of the employees of California's trial courts; and
No significant cost increases to the state as the funding body.

I believe that the proposals in this report accomplish all of these objectives.

More than anything I want to emphasize that this task force is composed of representatives from every affected constituency in the trial courts. There are labor representatives, court executive officers, county representatives, state representatives, and judges on the task force. I am proud of the fact that these diverse representatives have produced this document through a process of consensus.

I would like to publicly thank the members of the task force for their consistent commitment to this process, and I would like to publicly thank the staff assigned to this task force for their exceptional efforts in assisting the task force in performing its function.

Justice James A. Ardaiz, Chair

Task Force on Trial Court Employees

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Attachment