The infusion is the second half of a $50 million package courts administrators rolled out as part of the state's 2020 Budget Act as local courts large and small navigate the seismic impacts of the pandemic on its daily operations.
Courts will get slices of the $25 million pie based on the portions of workload that hadn't been disposed of during the pandemic from March through August 2020, compared to the same time frame in 2019.
Judge Jonathan Conklin, who heads the council's Trial Budget Advisory Committee, remarked on the challenges faced by local trial courts officials.
"It was no small task," Conklin said as part of the statement announcing the funding. "The data does confirm courts are doing their best to actively resolve cases, but has also confirmed a significant backlog due to the impact of COVID on day-to-day operations."
But local courts will need to report to the Judicial Council at least every three months with progress reports on how they are working to shrink COVID-19-related backlogs and how they are spending the funds, Judicial Council officials said.
In Woodland, Yolo Superior Court officials cheered the news Friday.
"We are thrilled with the Judicial Council's action today to distribute the $25 million. Courts are on the front lines of trying to provide essential services to citizens seeking a variety of services offered by the courts," Yolo Superior Court Executive Officer Shawn Landry said via email.
"This money will help address case delays and impacts," Landry continued. "While we are managing through these unprecedented challenges, I am convinced that it will ultimately make the services offered better."
California's courts have had to dramatically alter operations to respond to the pandemic, closing courthouses for a time; expanding video, audio and telephone technology to conduct court proceedings remotely; extending the time for arraignments and trials to be heard; and temporarily suspending jury trials outright as COVID-19 cases continued to mount.
"This is an avenue to protect the public ..." California Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said last spring of the sweeping measures instituted to respond to the virus. "We're making sure the courts aren't vectors" for spreading the virus, the chief justice said.
Nearly a year after the pandemic's effect on California's courts first took hold, delays still are reality at many local courthouses as COVID-19 cases continue to take their toll on area communities.
In Placer County, where court officials noted more than 50 county residents have died this month from the virus — the deadliest month in Placer so far since the start of the pandemic — officials halted jury trials through the end of January. Placer Superior Court will convene jury trials "only in extraordinary circumstances" through Feb. 12.
Similar delays are in effect in Sacramento County where Sacramento Superior Court officials have temporarily suspended jury trials and jury service until Jan. 29 "in direct response to the current health environment," officials said.
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