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California's 9.1 billion dollar reality check
Browsing All posts tagged under »AOC«
Closure of Plumas / Sierra Regional Courthouse
Only four years ago, amid great fanfare, the former AOC heralded the opening of the Plumas/Sierra Regional Courthouse in Portola. This 6500-square-foot courthouse, which features a “prominent transparent glazed entry vestibule and tall clerestoried lobby” along with its single courtroom, was built at a cost of $4.7 million. In the AOC’s words, it “exemplifies the […]
“AOC” Name to be Eliminated; Judicial Council Accepts Direct Responsibility for Audit Outcome
July 1, 2014
From the Alliance of California Judges…. In a bizarre move, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye opened Friday’s meeting of the Judicial Council by announcing her intention to “retire, remove, take away, eliminate the name ‘Administrative Office of the Courts.’” Friday’s published meeting agenda contained no reference whatsoever to the planned action. The Chief Justice directed […]
As usual, the AOC’s math just doesn’t add up. Time for an Audit.
March 12, 2014
A letter by Judge Kenneth So on Judicial Council letterhead dated March 7 was sent yesterday to every judge in California in a “Court News Update” email. Judge So claims that we’ve given you misleading information about how the AOC runs its business. We disagree, and we can back up what we said—with the AOC’s […]
Troubling answers from the AOC
March 4, 2014
Trying to get information out of the AOC can seem like playing Go Fish with a temperamental child. You have to ask for exactly the right thing in exactly the right way, and even then you might not get it. Often, the AOC claims that it doesn’t keep the kinds of records you’re looking for. […]
Retreads and Denial – A Strange Way To Restore Credibility
February 3, 2014
In the aftermath of the CCMS debacle — a $500 million waste of taxpayer money that ranks among the costliest IT failures in American history — how should the judicial branch go about restoring its credibility with the Legislature and the Governor? One way would be to acknowledge the CCMS failure immediately; hold accountable those […]
Merry Christmas to the AOC – From State Auditor Elaine Howle
December 26, 2013
Released just before Christmas is a new audit report on the AOC’s compliance with judicial branch contracting law that can be found here. The summary of conclusions follows along with some notes from the JCW team. Judicial Branch Procurement: Semiannual Reports to the Legislature Are of Limited Usefulness, Information Systems Have Weak Controls, and Certain Improvements […]
Transparency when it comes to AOC raises
December 10, 2013
“Transparency” is a word frequently utilized by the AOC and the Judicial Council. How does this terminology translate into practice when the AOC is involved? Recently the Chief Justice authorized raises of 3.5% for those working at the AOC. She authorized this pay raise with her signature. With courthouses across the state closing, necessary courtroom […]
The issue: No one enforces the rules of court outside the courtroom
November 21, 2013
It’s one of those unspoken issues that no one ever mentions. Those that make the rules in the AOC and Judicial Council want a rule of court rather than a state law because they know there exists no one outside of a courtroom to investigate or prosecute a violation of a rule of court outside […]
Yugo, Ferrari or an SUV that can do everything?
October 7, 2013
There is a major disconnect in the Crystal Palace. Even epic failures must be rolled out as resounding successes because this bunch of yahoo’s (Not to be confused with the far more competent Yahooligans of the Marissa Mayer variety..) does not want the appearance of losing face. If we were to make a comparison to […]
The Alliance of California Judges celebrates fourth anniversary
September 18, 2013
Last week the Alliance of California Judges celebrated its fourth anniversary. The Alliance was formed by 28 judges from around the state on September 11, 2009, after a handpicked Judicial Council had unanimously voted for the first time in history to close the state’s trial courts one day each month. That vote masked the real […]
AOC pay raises hurt branch credibility, undermine efforts to restore court funding
August 28, 2013
AOC pay raises hurt branch credibility, undermine efforts to restore court funding. Branch leadership is now claiming that the recent Judicial Council pay raises granted by the Chief Justice are simply “merit salary adjustments.” In reality, these are discretionary and ill-timed pay raises that are siphoning funds needed to operate our courts, undermining public confidence […]
Chief Justice hands out pay raises
August 23, 2013
Please click here to view a document signed by the Chief Justice on July 3, 2013. This memorandum grants 3.5% pay raises to employees of the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Supreme Court, the Courts of Appeal, and the Habeas Corpus Resource Center.You might recall that the Legislature was poised near the end of […]
No diversity in Judicial Council appointments
August 22, 2013
The architecture of inbreeding It’s a fair assumption that if you’re conducting official council business on behalf of the death star that your local court and citizens are probably missing out on your public service to them. One would think that this shouldn’t normally be an issue because an official appointment to a state council […]
We will soon be spending more than we will be taking in on court construction?
August 19, 2013
“Soon, we will be spending more on court construction than we will be taking in” I know I saw this statement recently in a news article and as I recall, it was made by the AOC’s newest finance wizard. I guess it took a few days to sink in and realize that when the judicial […]
Fact checking fact check again…Courthouse Construction
August 12, 2013
Yesterday the new 319 million dollar 600,000 square foot federal courthouse (link) broke ground in Los Angeles. Meanwhile the net present cost of the long beach courthouse in terms of a 35 year lease is $725 million. In their fact check advocacy they tell us that the maximum price of the courthouse over 35 years pre-factoring […]
The AOC: The only place in government where making 12 copies takes 60 days
July 26, 2013
After hearing rumors about a rental in San Francisco being used by AOC leadership one of our media partners crafted a public information request and submitted it to pubinfo. Knowing that it wasn’t likely that the rental was an AOC line item, the author instead thought through the AOC travel expense claim process and surmised […]
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Judicial Council Watcher 
October 24, 2014
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