You probably just witnessed the birth of CCMS V5 in another thread. As always happens with knowingly controversial expenditures, judicial council staff brought before the accountability and efficiency committee a request for 5.6 million dollars to start developing some data exchange connectors, which coincidentally is one of the only remaining items that would have needed to be developed to port data out of existing case management systems and in to CCMS, as well as connect CCMS to a plethora of “justice partner” systems in a statewide data exchange. Previous action had these connectors removed from the project so that the former AOC could call the ccms system complete.
Without any business case, without even a ballpark figure of what completion of these data exchange connectors will ultimately cost, with only two courts having completed a migration to other case management systems the AOC sought and the committee approved a request to ask the other two branches of government for a 5.6 million dollar kickoff of what we all know will ultimately be CCMS V5. If you believe this will be the only monies sought for this project, I have this bridge that extends between San Francisco’s Presidio and the soon to be renamed Robin Williams tunnel that we’ll be happy to sell you.
After all of the heat that the state auditor gave the accountability and efficiency committee about their malformed oversight responsibilities you would think that this committee would be the last place that an incomplete request without any accompanying business case or even a finite scope and budget would land. Alas: it is and has been the first place that such a request would land because by clearing this committee, it is guaranteed to clear all other committees because it has the blessing of accountability and efficiency. So let’s just start calling the accountability and efficiency committee what it really is.,.,..
The Rubber Stamp of Approval Committee
Now that the request has cleared the committee, budget change proposals which represent a permanent change in the AOC’s budget are being drafted as we write this post to support this new request for years to come. After all, once the connectors are developed, staff will be needed to maintain and implement them. In our opinion, this project should be owned by the trial courts that put together an MSA for case management systems and should be a collaborative effort of all parties involved.
But that won’t be the case as the data exchange connectors will be the new angle to claw back money from each trial court to use the connectors, which likely won’t be located at the local trial courts as they are now but will be moved into the California Courts Technology Center where every court that wants to use them (and usage will be considered mandatory) will be paying the AOC maintenance fees forever thereby relinquishing control to the former AOC in an effort to engender continued patronage and continue their racket.
Maria Dinzeo’s story on the data exchange approval (link)
Bill Girdner’s story on the accountability & efficiency committee (Whitewash) (link)
unionman575
February 11, 2015
Nice work JCW.
They are the rubber stamp of approval committee.
😉
JusticeCalifornia
February 11, 2015
Yes, look at the committee roster. Stocked with reliable albeit historically compromised Team George stalwarts. The dissenters on that committee should now watch their backs.
unionman575
February 11, 2015
http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/AEPublicRoster.pdf
Rubber Stamp Committee Roster
😉
Advisory Committee on Financial Accountability and Efficiency for the Judicial Branch
As of November 1, 2014
Adrasteia
February 11, 2015
On February 20, 2014 the Judicial Council unanimously approved new Rule of Court 10.63 which provides credence to the Auditor’s evaluation of the A & E committee which shall hereafter be known as the W & R committee (Whitewash & Rubberstamp).
The comment to Rule of Court 10.63 explains that the W & R Committee will promote increased understanding of the AOC’s …accomplishments and challenges, based on recommendations to the committee from the AOC. The text of the comment to the Rule of Court follows:
The purpose of the Advisory Committee on Financial Accountability and Efficiency for the Judicial Branch is to promote transparency, accountability, efficiency, and understanding of the AOC and the judicial branch. The advisory committee fosters the best use of the work, information, and recommendations provided by the AOC, and it promotes increased understanding of the AOC’s mission, responsibilities, accomplishments, and challenges.
How nice that such a committee exists to help the public better understand the AOC. Yes, the W & R Committee is tasked with some specific responsibilities that are brought to the committee by the AOC and for the benefit of the AOC, such as approving AOC salary increases and budget change proposals.
When Hoshino, on behalf of his boss, she with the Titanium Fists under Velvet Gloves, reports that the Judicial Council has been diligently implementing the 2012 SEC recommendations, he can point to this 2014 Rule of Court as just one example of progress.
JusticeCalifornia
February 12, 2015
“she with the Titanium Fists under Velvet Gloves”.
You give her WAY too much credit. Marie Antoinette Sakauye is simply a not-too-bright former blackjack dealer/cocktail waitress who “lucked” and bluffed her way into a gig, and is now absolutely infatuated with herself and the fraud she is perpetuating. That fraud being that she is qualified to be where she is. She is laughing at the idiocy of those who allow her to continue to “rule” the biggest judiciary in the world. And she should be. Of all the great and ethical minds in the branch (bench and bar), and actually in all three branches, it is Ron George’s last bitter kiss goodbye that Sakauye is presently allowed to be where she is and continue on and on and on and on and on– ad nauseum– to do what she has done and is doing to the branch and the public. Rape and pillage.
JusticeCalifornia
February 12, 2015
Be careful what you wish for.
IMHO, Sakauye, on her present course, is going to become the judicial branch civics lesson she wished never happened.
JusticeCalifornia
February 12, 2015
And of course I hope everyone understands that the gambling barmaid has done and is doing her ostensible support base a MASSIVE professional disservice. How do you legally, intelligently, professionally and politically ignore and/or defend her (and her massive staff’s) branch behavior and reviews since she “came into power”? LOL. Tell us. That invitation is extended to the CJA and CA State Bar, the Governor, the Attorney General, and any leftover uninformed legislators, to start with.
Let us know.
JusticeCalifornia
February 12, 2015
Definition of rape and pillage, as applied to Team George’s treatment of the CA judicial branch and the public.
Definitions courtesy of http://www.merriam-webster.com:
Full Definition of RAPE
transitive verb
1
a archaic : to seize and take away by force
b : despoil
despoil
verb de·spoil \di-ˈspȯi(-ə)l\
: to severely damage or ruin (a place)
: to forcefully take what is valuable from (a place)
pillage
verb
: to take things from (a place, such as a city or town) by force especially during a war : to loot or plunder (a place)
pil·lagedpil·lag·ing
Full Definition of PILLAGE
transitive verb
: to plunder ruthlessly : loot
loot
noun \ˈlüt\
: something that is stolen or taken by force
Full Definition of LOOT
1
: goods usually of considerable value taken in war : spoils
2
: something held to resemble goods of value seized in war: as
a : something appropriated illegally often by force or violence
b : illicit gains by public officials
c : money
3
: the action of looting
Adrasteia
February 12, 2015
Go to the 15 minute mark, then watch and listen for a minute as she describes Filipinas. I do not give her any credit. She is a narcissist. She is manipulative. She is dishonest. Do not underestimate her will. Do not underestimate her desire to destroy her enemies.
Know the enemy.
Adrasteia
February 12, 2015
On the Tani Youtube that I posted be sure to listen at minute 17:50 toward the end of her description of Filipinas where she notes that they “jump ugly real fast” and further advises that this “trait” is helpful in combatting injustice. Her description of the sweet and sour marinade that makes up the Filipina is beyond belief.
She plays by her own set of rules. Public comments such as these made by any other judge in the state would get them thrown off the bench. Instead, she feigned offense when a legislator called her “attractive” and played it for political gain.
Forgot to mention, she’s a hypocrite.
Wendy Darling
February 12, 2015
“Forgot to mention, she’s a hypocrite.”
Yes, she is. She is the biggest hypocrite of them all.
Long live the ACJ.
JusticeCalifornia
February 13, 2015
Adrasteia, thank you for the warning and that Sakauye video. Why Sakauye is proudly packaging herself as a tough Filipina chick who can “jump ugly really fast”, I don’t know.
But I fully understand tough Filipina chicks who jump ugly and like to fight. I grew up in a a diverse school environment where you either kept your eyes averted and mouth shut, or were prepared to fight after school. I learned to fight.
I remember one time in 8th grade during cheer leading practice, a gang of girls led by a tough Filipina chick came in the gym and picked a fight. The leader and I “engaged” (and I don’t mean hair pulling), and then in the middle of that knock-down, drag-out fight (which at that point was a draw) we were told the principal was coming. The cheerleaders had to go back to practicing cheers and the gang had to pretend they were watching cheer leading practice (LOL, something the principal knew would never happen). No one said a word about what had really happened. After that, the gang never bothered my friends or me again, and we all peacefully and civilly co-existed.
Sakauye has had many opportunities as chief justice to do the right thing, and that is clean house and start serving the courts and the public as expected by the public when they voted for her. She will not. She is too wrapped up in “holding court” to serve anybody.
Thus my conclusion that Sakauye is simply a not-too-bright former blackjack dealer/cocktail waitress who could not get a job out of law school, who “lucked” and bluffed (and apparently proudly bullied) her way into her current position. As I recall, her own Filipina community questioned how she rose so fast. Sakauye threw her natural fan base (immigrant women of color) under the bus long ago, and I imagine her current infamy regarding the way she is wasting money, skimming from the trial courts, and running the branch into the ground is not making anybody proud. I can tell you that as a female who has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in my own time championing causes for immigrant women of color, I had high hopes for Sakauye initially, and am now thoroughly disgusted.
What Sakauye is doing is wrong. As she admitted, it is necessary to stand up against wrongs and not allow injustices.
Sakauye is on the bully side of this fight. She would be well-advised not to underestimate her opposition, because if she doesn’t straighten up and fly right real soon she IS going to lose. Her tough Filipina chick persona might have worked with schoolyard children, but her opposition now includes pissed off members of the best and the brightest in all three branches, and pissed off members of the public, all of whom, with each passing day, interview, audit, judicial council meeting, and backbreaking fee, gain a clearer understanding of exactly who she is. A tough chick who a) talks a good game but cannot administer her way out of a paper bag, and b) is incapable of understanding when to stand down.
Not a good combination.
Just my opinion.
JusticeCalifornia
February 13, 2015
Just so we all understand our thug chief justice’s bizarre brag.
Urban Dictionary regarding “jump ugly”:
jump ugly
To move close or (get in the face) of someone, with the intent of creating conflict, intimidation or challenge.
TOP DEFINITION
Jumping Ugly
Going off verbally, aggressively and disrespectfully on someone who has said or done something to piss you off.
I was jumping ugly with him after he said my work sucked.
Lando
February 11, 2015
Oh my my my. According to Mr Hoshino this Judicial Council committee headed up by HRH-1’s chief enforcer, J Huffman, was democratically elected. Really. Was that about the same time the helicopter Brian Williams was riding in was fired upon ? By the way Hoshino has also made public statements that all of the SEC recommendations have been adopted by the Judicial Council. If true, I guess I missed when the insiders closed the Crystal Palace and moved to Sacramento, saving millions. The big lie. Creating revisionist history. Claiming all has been fixed. Appointing yet another committee using the same insiders, Huffman, Hull, and Miller to say all his well. Anyone see the pattern here? Like Mr Williams, Mr Hoshino needs to be ordered off the stage. Will it happen? Not unless pigs are flying over the moon just about right now haha!
unionman575
February 12, 2015
Delilah
February 13, 2015
And then I read this story today in the SFChron. I just don’t get how all these same people can look the other way when it comes to the decimation of the CA justice system being perpetrated by Judicial Branch “leadership.” Now the big-wigs in Sacramento are running around with their hair on fire trying to “get to the bottom” of how a “senior official” made off with $1.3 million in public funds. That’s chump-change to the crooks and liars at the AOC, some of whom exited stage-left a long time ago with golden parachutes fully unfurled. While the money being embezzled and out-right wasted may come from somewhat different public pots, those funds should still be equally safe and protected from “fraud, abuse, and mismanagement,” donchathink? Do you think State Controller Yee and State Treasurer Chiang have not received the lowdown on the fraud and corruption occurring in the Third Branch by its own “administrative staff”? And now that Steinberg, the CJ’s good buddy, is gone, maybe state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León would be willing to show some interest.
Yeah, I know. Fat chance.
Transbay Transit Center selling naming rights; ABAG facing audit
ABAG hearings: State officials are rushing in to get to the bottom of the ABAG scandal. State Controller Betty Yee said Thursday that her office will conduct an audit of the Association of Bay Area Governments’ internal administrative and accounting controls after allegations that a senior official stole $1.3 million.
“As California’s chief fiscal officer, I am charged with protecting state resources,” Yee said. “When public money goes missing, I need to determine how it happened and whether effective controls are in place.”
The audit will initially focus on fiscal years 2012-13 and 2013-14. If investigators discover accounting weaknesses that may have affected earlier years, the audit may be expanded.
Yee’s office has sent a letter to ABAG asking that the association fork over any and all relevant documents — including ledgers, contracts, invoices, personnel records, meeting minutes, policies and procedures.
The audit work will begin Feb. 20 and is expected to take a few weeks.
Meanwhile, state Treasurer John Chiang and state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, are teaming up to conduct legislative oversight hearings to “ensure that monies raised through the sale of government bonds are safe from fraud, abuse, and mismanagement,” according to a news release.
The inquiries come after The Chronicle reported that an official with an independent public financing arm of ABAG is suspected of embezzling $1.3 million in public bond money from a fund meant for street and park improvements South of Market.
San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim has also called for a public hearing on the situation, which is to take place Feb. 25.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Transbay-Transit-Center-selling-naming-rights-6078411.php
unionman575
February 12, 2015
Mental Health Issues Implementation Task Force
February 25, 2015 Meeting (Teleconference)
12:15p.m.-1:15p.m.
Call in information: 1-877-820-7831
Passcode 3045675 (Listen Only)
😉
http://www.courts.ca.gov/mhiitf.htm
unionman575
February 12, 2015
http://www.courts.ca.gov/collabjusticecomm.htm
Collaborative Justice Courts Advisory Committee
February 20, 2015 Meeting (Closed)
😉
12:15-1:30 p.m.
Lando
February 13, 2015
Thanks for posting the incredibly arrogant and self serving speech of HRH-2 above. . The content of that speech and her demeanor is very troubling, and not exactly ” judicial”. If I made such speech the CJP would be boring in on me within a manner of minutes but somehow I am just guessing they gave HRH-2 a pass on that. Just like they most likely gave a pass on HRH-1’s demeaning comments about declaring war on his judicial opponents or Huffman’s comments about a judge expressing a dissenting opinion being a clown. It all appears to be a great double standard. Pretty much how things have operated since Ronald George created a dictatorship of the California judicial branch. What a total disgrace.
unionman575
February 13, 2015
http://www.kcra.com/news/investigates/lack-of-money-leaves-california-courtrooms-in-the-dark/31244910
• Lack of money leaves California courtrooms in the dark
Courts unable to hire enough staff, judges say
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Visit the Sacramento County Courthouse on any given day and you may find empty hallways and dark courtrooms on some floors.
• But the courtrooms haven’t gone dark because of a lack of cases, it’s because there aren’t enough employees to conduct business.
😉
•
“There’s not a clerk to put in that courtroom, there’s not a bailiff (or) an interpreter,” Sacramento County Judge Steve White said. “That’s what we need to fix.”
😉
White, a member of an advocacy group called the Alliance of California Judges, is critical of how the courts are managed by the judicial council, which oversees the personnel and the funding for all of California’s courts.
White said he’s had to sit idle in his chambers, giving extra cases to other judges, because he doesn’t have the people to open his courtroom.
Nidal Albalbool is feeling the pinch of the cuts firsthand. Due to cuts in the number of bailiffs, interpreters and clerks, it will be almost a month before his civil lawsuit shows up in the court’s computers.
“Obviously, civil cases suffer,” said Judge David Rosenberg, of Yolo County. “But even criminal cases suffer.”
Rosenberg is a member of the judicial council. He said the council echoes White’s concerns, adding that he too has days where he can’t hold court.
KCRA 3’s investigative team found that these delays and closed courtrooms are happening all across the state of California.
In San Joaquin County, the entire Tracy Courthouse has been closed.
The courts in Stockton, Manteca and French Camp have been forced to increase their workload to take over Tracy’s cases.
In Sacramento County, five courtrooms are closed every day because of a lack of personnel.
Yolo County, meanwhile, has a 16-month wait just to get a lawsuit on the civil court calendar.
The counties said it’s all the result of a lack of funding — $1 billion has been stripped from the courts in recent years, Rosenberg said.
The California Department of Finance said every state agency had cuts, and the courts received fewer cuts than most.
Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer told KCRA 3 that in the past two years, the courts have gotten back $250 million. Now it’s up to the courts to better manage the money, Palmer said.
“The additional funding is important, but the way that the courts operate is important as well,” he said.
But Albalbool said he can’t wait for the courts to hire new clerks. His lawsuit is an attempt to remove a hold on his bank account.
“I need to get my money back and my balance in my account is zero,” he said. “So, I have no money to pay my bills (and) my expenses. I have no money, so 30 days is too much for me.”
MaxRebo5
February 13, 2015
Pretty good story there from kcra. It was fairly balanced with a judge from the ACJ’s, a Judicial Council Judge, and the average civil litigant wondering why he is left out in the cold not know any of the internal politics of the courts. It would be nice to see more press and more public interest in CA Courts and how they are managed.
I also liked how they went to H.D. Palmer who said the courts need to manage their money better. That was where I felt far more could have been said about the mismanagement already documented. Remind the public about the CCMS waste, the SEC Report documenting the arrogance at the top, the latest state audit about executive pay abuses, the AOC regional offices that process zero cases, the 66 cars of the AOC, the CHP being used as drivers for justices, and on and on.
They ended the story by mentioning the new WAFM which the AOC was forced to adopt by the Governor and it was long overdue. That funding model s a great change in terms of fairness. Courts with more cases deserve more money just as schools with more kids deserve more funds.
The problem for many CA Trial Courts is their workloads are also way down as crime rates are at 50 year lows and criminal case filings decline. Statewide the branch should be seeing continued cuts as a result of WAFM as it is implemented fully in the next few years. It is sort of funny how in the story it made it sound like the Judicial Council felt that funding model change was going to be a fix they could point to help get more branch resources.
The reality is WAFM will indeed help some truly needy courts (inland courts with high crime) but for all the affluent coastal counties with lower crime it is going to mean less money. Orange County alone predicts they will lose 18 million over several years based on their workload levels using WAFM. See page 8 of their own budget report.
http://www.occourts.org/media/pdf/2014-15ApprovedBudget.pdf
WAFM will not increase funding for the branch if overall caseloads are down. It will just take from one court with lower filings to fund courts with increasing filings. The reality is CA Courts are mostly criminal cases. Let me be very specific. There were 7,726,025 cases filed in the trial courts in the latest Court Statistics Report. Of those cases, 6,236,781 were criminal cases. Of those criminal cases, 5,050,151 were infractions and most all of those were traffic infractions.
So the CA Courts are basically this huge system based primarily on traffic “crime”. Most people just pay the ticket so there is very little court (judge) work at all to do on a traffic case. That is what brings in money for the state and that is the basis of their budget allocations. What happens if we get self driving cars very soon?
You can’t give a ticket to a passenger in a self driving car. If Google gets their automated car out there soon, and it is adopted by most drivers, then the business model for CA Courts is pretty much shot to hell. They will lose 80% of their workload. It will be great for the public to never have to worry about getting a ticket on their daily commute to work or trip to the store.
My point is in time market forces outside of the Judicial Council’s control are in the public’s favor. Add in the decriminalization of pot in 2016 and CA Courts will take another huge hit to it’s criminal workload. A massive Judicial Council staff has little long term hope given these forces. Lastly, where is the workload metric for Judicial Council staffing? As cases go down when do they get cut?
MaxRebo5
February 13, 2015
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/05/googles-self-driving-cars-have-never-gotten-a-ticket/371172/
CA Courts can expect a loss of millions of traffic cases when these catch on. Twenty years ago none of us had a smart phone. Now we almost all have them. Smart cars are coming very soon to California and it should be a game changer for the basic workload of CA Courts. There is always hope to reform the branch one way or another. Happy Friday!