County of Santa Clara
office of the Board of Supervisors
County Government Center, East Wing
70 West Hedding Street, lOth Floor
San Jose, California 951 10

(408) 299-2323
FAX 298-8460 TDD 993-8272

James T. Beall, Jr.

Supervisor, Fourth District

MEMORANDUM
TO:

Board of Supervisors

FROM:

James T. Beall, Jr.
Supervisor, District 4

DATE:

April 21,1995

SUBJECT:

Trial court budget proposal requests to the Trial Court
Budget Commission

As you know,I have expressed my concerns regarding the courts' budgets as
they relate to the county budget. With regard to this matter, I would like to
bring to your attention Government Code Section 68502.5 regarding the
budget proposal requests of trial courts. This law states that the 'Trial courts
shall send to the county board of supervisors a copy of their proposed budgets
and any revisions or appeals at the time their budget requests are submitted to
the Trial Court Budget Commission, pursuant to this section. The counties
may submit timely comments to the commission regarding the contents of
the proposed budgets of their respective trial courts. The commission shall
consider the counties' comments when determining appropriate budgets for
the courts."

According to the Budget Director, the Courts have not submitted a copy of
their proposed budget requests to the Board of Supervisors for comments to
the Commission in the past. Therefore, I would like to recommend that the
county administration develop a policy or draft an ordinance to ensure that
the Courts' budget requests are submitted to the Board for review and public
discussion when they are submitted to the Budget Commission. The
administration would then draft comments regarding the Courts' budget
requests and submit them to the Board for discussion and approval prior to
submitting them to the Commission.

2-004

I would also like to request that the Administration explore the extent to
which the county might request that the Commission or the Judicial Council
respond to the county's comments as it relates to the trial courts' budget when
they are approving the budgets.

In addition, since the Board approves and provides more than half of the
courts' budget funding, it would seem only reasonable that the Board review
and approve the Courts' budget requests prior to submission to the

Commission. Thus, I would like to also recommend that the administration

look into the possibility of creating a policy or ordinance requiring the Courts
to submit their budget proposals to the Board for public discussion and
approval prior to submitting it to the Trial Court Funding Commission.
I will be raising these issues at the April 25 board meeting, under items to
refer to administration for review and report.
c: Richard Wittenberg, County Executive
Presiding Judge Biafore, Superior Court
Presiding Judge Stafford, Municipal Court
Steve Love,Superior Court Executive
Susan Myers, Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk