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Welcome to the Superior Court of California, County of Butte

Welcome to the Superior Court of California, County of Butte. Agenda/Table of Contents. Snapshot of Butte County…………………………..……………………….3 Court Overview Judicial Officers……………………………………………........................6 Organization Chart………………………………………………………………7

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Welcome to the Superior Court of California, County of Butte

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  1. Welcome to the Superior Court of California, County of Butte

  2. Agenda/Table of Contents • Snapshot of Butte County…………………………..……………………….3 • Court Overview • Judicial Officers……………………………………………........................6 • Organization Chart………………………………………………………………7 • Employee Overview…………………………………………………………….8 • Court Facilities…………………………………………………………………..10 • Innovative Technology……………………………………………………….12 • Budget………………………………………………………………………………13 • Strategic Planning………………………………………………………….....16 • Court Programs and Specialty Courts • Family Law Facilitator and Self-Help………………………………18 • Family Court Services Mediation Program…………………….20 • Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation………………23 • Collaborative Courts………………………………………………………25 • Court Statistics • Total Annual Filings………………………………………………………..27 • Average Filing Per Month………………………………………………28 • Age of Pending Cases…………………………………………………….29 • Changes in Filings………………………………………………………….30

  3. Butte County Snapshot As of 2012, Butte County’s population was 221,539. While the population growth rate has been declining since 1980, it is expected to greatly increase from 8% in 2010 to 52% in 2020. There are 5 incorporated cities in Butte County as well as several unincorporated areas. Butte County is the 28th largest county out of California’s 58 counties at 1,636.46 square miles. Butte County is home to 135.4 persons per square mile. Comparatively, Los Angeles County is home to 2,455.2 persons per square mile.

  4. Butte County Snapshot The unemployment rate in Butte County hovers above both the California and United States unemployment rates. It increased between 2006 and 2010 and has since been decreasing. The unemployment rate in 2013 was 10.2. Almost 75% of Butte County residents are White Non-Hispanic. The second largest group represented is Hispanic or Latino at 14.8%.

  5. Court Overview

  6. Judicial Officer Overview The Butte County Superior Court has 11 Judges and 2 Court Commissioners.

  7. Organization Chart

  8. Employee Overview The chart at left shows the number of employees per division. The chart shows currently filled positions only. The total number of employees is 110.

  9. Employee Overview Court employees, if they desire formal representation, are represented by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021. Not all court employees are represented by this union. Some employees remain unrepresented, as shown.

  10. Butte Superior Court Facilities • Oroville Courthouse – 11 courtrooms • Case types: Misdemeanors and felonies, appeals, civil harassments, family law (including family support cases), infractions, small claims, juvenile law, traffic, and unlawful detainers. • Chico Courthouse – 2 courtrooms • Case types: Probate, general civil (including small claims, unlawful detainers, limited and unlimited cases), infractions, and traffic. • Paradise Courthouse – 1 courtroom • Closed to the public as of September 30, 2011. • Juvenile Hall – 1 courtroom • North Chico County Courthouse – Under Construction • Capital Construction Project estimated completion December 2014. • SHARP Center • Office of Self-Help services and the Family Law Facilitator.

  11. North Butte County CourthouseCapital Construction Project • North Butte County Courthouse will replace the existing Chico Courthouse and the Paradise Courthouse. • The courthouse will total 67,433 square feet with 5 courtrooms. • The total project cost is estimated at $65 million. • The Capital Construction Project is funded by Senate Bill 1407 and through trial court user fees. • The project is estimated to have a positive economic impact on the county by creating over 275 onsite jobs and positively benefiting hundreds of other jobs as well. • The construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2014.

  12. Innovative Technology • Public and Justice Partner Access: • Electronic Probable Cause: mobile iPad fax station for on-call Magistrate • Electronic Search Warrants: via DocuSign application managed by District Attorney’s Office • Traffic Payments Online • Butte Justice Agencies Data Sharing (BJADS) Interface: County Electronic Warrant System • Justice Partner Access to Court Case Management Software (CMS) • California Court Protective Order Registry (CCPOR): Butte County was an early adopter of the statewide protective order registry created by the AOC • Internal Applications: • CourtKB: knowledgebase software • MAJIC: court resource assignment software • Online Purchase Requisition Application (OPRA): software to help manage purchases • Human Resources Management Information System (HRMS): a collection of software that manages employee information

  13. Budget This pie chart shows budget expenditures for fiscal year 2013-2014. Personnel services account for the largest part of the budget at 69%. It is followed by operating expenses and equipment, which comprise 26% of budget expenditures.

  14. Budget Alternatively, this pie chart shows budget financing sources. The majority, 70%, of the court’s budget is financed by the State Operations Allocation. Remaining funding sources individually comprise less than 10% of the total funding.

  15. Budget How do those two pie charts compare? Because of the state-mandated elimination of reserve funding, the Butte Superior Court used existing reserves to account for excess spending. Thus, the budget for fiscal year 2013-2014 was balanced.

  16. Accomplishments of Strategic Planning • Additional forms and informational materials for the Family Court Services Division (child custody mediation) were translated into Spanish to increase multi-lingual access to justice. • The Self-Help and Referral Program (SHARP) expanded workshop offerings and streamlined staff training and support resources. The SHARP Family Law Facilitator and SHARP Managing Attorney was awarded the 2014 Legal Aid Association of California (LAAC) Family Law Award. • In 2012, the Court implemented an electronic search warrant process. • A security gate was installed at the Butte County Courthouse around the staff parking lot entrance. • Digital records have become more readily available through the digitization of court documents in PDF and microfilm formats. • In addition to the existing collaborative courts, the Butte Superior Court is also considering a Veteran’s Court pilot program.

  17. Court Programs and Specialty Courts

  18. Self-Help Assistance and Referral Program(SHARP) and Family Law Facilitator’s Office • Assistance is provided free of charge in the areas of family law, guardianships, evictions, small claims, name changes, and restraining orders. • Workshops, self-help publications, information sheets, and appointments are available to aid litigants. • SHARP has four locations in three counties. There are locations in Chico and Oroville in Butte County, Clear Lake in Lake County, and Red Bluff in Tehama County. • Offices have different days and hours of operation, but SHARP is available Monday-Friday from 8:30am-4:00pm.

  19. Self-Help Assistance and Referral Program (SHARP) and Family Law Facilitator’s Office In 2013, SHARP made 26,460 contacts with litigants via phone calls, walk-in services, Self-Help and Family Law Facilitator appointments, Self-Help workshops, and Family Law Facilitator day-of-court assistance. Among a subset of 3,094 respondents, 85.4% spoke English, 14% spoke Spanish, and 0.6% spoke another language.

  20. Family Court Services Mediation Program California law requires that in all child custody and visitation cases where the parties are unable to reach an agreement on a parenting plan, the case must be sent to mediation. In Butte County, Child Custody Recommending Counselors (CCRC) provide mediation services to help create parenting plans. The chart on the left shows the path of custody and visitation cases in Family Court.

  21. Mediation Orientation Orientation, as mandated by California Rule of Court 5.210(e)(2), is an especially important part of the mediation process because around 51% of the parties are unrepresented. Orientation is mandatory for all parties. It consists of a 2-hour class in workshop format that is designed to prepare the parties for the mediation process. A short video from the Administrative Office of the Courts is shown to the parties, which emphasizes a focus on finding the best outcome for the child(ren). In addition to the video, parties receive written materials and are able to ask the Child Custody Recommending Counselors questions about the process. Parties to the same case do not attend the same orientation session.

  22. Family Court Services Mediation Program The bar chart, left, shows the number of mediation sessions calendared between July 2012-June 2013, broken down by Separate, Joint, and VIP mediations. The pie chart, below, shows outcomes from the mediation sessions. 46% of the time the CCRC make recommendations to the judge, meaning the parties were unable to reach an agreement. Separate mediations are held for parties alleging domestic violence. Joint mediation sessions involve both parties at once. VIP mediations are voluntary, shorter sessions held prior to full mediation.

  23. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) • Types of ADR available in Butte County: • Mediation (Local Rule 6) • A mediator helps parties to reach a mutually acceptable resolution; the parties make the final decision. • Arbitration (Local Rule 6) • An arbitrator reviews evidence, hears arguments, and makes a decision; the decision can be binding or nonbinding. • Settlement Conferences (Local Rule 3) • Settlement conferences can be mandatory or voluntary; litigants meet with a “settlement officer” to discuss settling the case. • Types of disputes suitable for ADR: • Business • Property/land • Consumer collection • Employment • Landlord/tenant • Civil/personal/relational conflicts • Personal injury/insurance

  24. Mediation • General Civil (Unlimited and Limited) • Litigants can either randomly select a panel mediator, who provides up to 3 hours of mediation services pro bono, or litigants can select a panel mediator. If the mediator is selected by the litigants, then the mediator is compensated a mutually agreed upon amount. • Unlawful Detainer, Small Claims, and Civil Harassment • Mediation services are provided to pro bono litigants (if parties agree) on the day of trial as an alternative to trial. • Mediators are staffed and administered by Legal Services of Northern California, and are partially compensated with Dispute Resolution Programs Act (DRPA) funding matched by a State Bar grant.

  25. Collaborative Courts

  26. Court Statistics

  27. Total Annual Filings This chart shows the total number of filings annually, broken down by division. Traffic makes up the majority of filings, despite that is has the greatest variance in filings year-to-year. The division with the second highest filings is Criminal. Probate has the fewest filings, and the number of Probate filings has remained relatively constant over the years included. In total, annual filings have ranged from 39,626 in 2005 to 46,539 in 2003 in Butte County, which has the 27th largest county population in California. The average annual filings is 42,441. For comparison, the average annual filings over the same period in Orange County, which has the 3rd largest county population in California, is 679,978.

  28. Average Filings Per Month The average number of filings per month is 3,594. The Traffic Division has the highest average number of monthly filings, followed by the Criminal and Civil Divisions respectively. The Probate Division has the lowest average number of filings per month.

  29. Age of Pending Cases Criminal cases are most likely to have been open 60-120 days. The majority of civil cases (69%) are 0-30 days old.

  30. Changes in Filings Overall, case filings have decreased over both the past year and the past fives years. The most significant decreases in filings can be found among Dependency and Delinquency cases. The Butte Superior Court has seen almost a 50% decrease in Delinquency filings over the past five years. Increases in filings have only been seen among Felony Complaints, Probate, Limited Civil, and Small Claims filings. It is important to note the 24.3% increase in Felony filings over the past five years, which coincides with the passage of AB 109 or realignment. *Year 1 includes filings from September 1, 2008 through August 31, 2009. Year 4 includes data from September 1, 2011 through August 31, 2012. Year 5 includes data from September 1, 2012 through August 31, 2013.

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