Lawmaker wants LA to give judge positions to inland counties

A Republican lawmaker has a proposal for counties that need more judge positions to ease caseloads: Take them from Los Angeles County.

During an Assembly budget subcommittee hearing Monday, Assemblyman Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale pointed to the 2022 Judicial Needs Assessment, which found four inland counties whose “assessed judicial need” was at least 25% higher than its number of allocated judges. Together, San Bernardino, Tehama, Riverside and Kern counties are short 66 judges. Those missing judges might be hiding just over the San Jacinto Mountains in Los Angeles County, Lackey suggested. The same report found Los Angeles County had 73 more judges than it needed, he said. The assessment also showed that four other large coastal counties—Alameda, San Diego, San Francisco and Santa Clara—collectively had 82 more judges than they need.

Lackey also noted that many of those positions are currently empty, and therefore eligible to be moved. According to the Judicial Vacancy Report published Feb. 1, the Los Angeles County Superior Court has 17 vacant judgeships.

“I don’t know how they feel justified in having that many excess judgeships,” Lackey said. “This didn’t emerge with COVID. This is long lasting. And shame on us if we let it linger.”

Los Angeles County Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner said in a statement: “The Superior Court of Los Angeles County is the largest consolidated trial court in the United States, serving over 10 million residents from the Antelope Valley to Long Beach, from Catalina Island to Pomona. The cases we handle are among the largest and most complicated in the Country.”

She added, “The work of the Court has only become more complex and time-consuming. Every year, significant changes to criminal, family, probate, civil and juvenile law require the additional attention and diligence of judicial officers. Most of these changes have occurred in the time since the last statewide judicial workload study. Our court stands on the front lines in addressing some of California’s most glaring challenges, including the dueling homelessness and mental health crises, and the recent early implementation of CARE Court. All superior courts in California deserve adequate judicial resources to carry out our missions of providing fair and timely access to justice.”

Lackey’s comments came as lawmakers and representatives for the Judicial Council discussed how, once again, the courts will need to make do with less amid a surging budget deficit. The pending shortfall could also make it easier for the council to convince the Legislature to give them long-term authority to continue offering remote appearances. Several such proposals have been held up in recent years amid objections from labor and professional groups, particularly those supporting court reporters.

In the meantime, Lackey has carved out a niche in Sacramento as a Republican who sometimes talks like a Democrat — and who turns this language back on the party that has had unfettered control in California for well over a decade. For instance, he said, there is huge imbalance between California counties about how many judges they have per capita. Lackey said this harms many rural and suburban residents.

“We talk a lot in this institution about equity and access to justice,” Lackey said. “This is clearly an unfair set of circumstances.”

He was responding to comments by San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Lisa M. Rogan, who testified judges in her court have caseloads twice as high as much of the rest of the state. She said this means it typically takes 120 days to hear a motion, over a year to dispose of a case, and 90 days for a family court matter to get before a judge.

Rogan followed Leah Rose-Goodwin, the Judicial Council’s chief data and analytics officer. According to the most recent judicial needs assessment published in late 2022, Rose-Goodwin said, “17 courts need 98 judgeships.”

Lackey said that 40 of those 98 are inside his district, which sprawls from the Los Angeles County suburbs to the Nevada border and is big enough to hold multiple New England states. The greater region, particularly San Bernardino and Riverside counties, have seen their populations swell as the cost of housing has driven people out of greater Los Angeles.

His district sits just north of the one represented by Sen. Richard Roth, D-Riverside. Roth has long championed the idea of adding more judgeships and allocating them to the Inland Empire and other areas in need. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 75, Roth’s bill to create 26 judgeships. But SB 75 contains three of the most dreaded words in any time of budget deficits: “subject to appropriation.”

Lackey’s idea is more direct and would not require the state to spend new money.