One of the vehicles that we’ve endorsed as financing for the state courts is somehow making a connection between drivers and driving and local court funding. We felt this way because the vast majority of all cases that hit every court are by far and away, traffic cases. So we were more than a little surprised when last week it was announced that the state board of equalization was recommending lowering the state excise tax rate on gasoline by 7.5 cents per gallon.
So we were curious on how this tax which applies to gasoline and diesel sales would look if the county the tax was collected in went to the local courts as additional funding to offset traffic court costs and we came across this page by the California Energy Commission that we used to work out the math.
http://energyalmanac.ca.gov/gasoline/retail_fuel_outlet_survey/retail_gasoline_sales_by_county.html
If the excise tax did not expire but was instead redirected to the local county court system the tax was collected in most of the counties with the most pressing needs would be adequately funded.
Here are a few examples of what would happen if the excise tax were redirected to the county court system they were collected in, based on 2012 estimates.
Los Angeles county sold 3,451,000,000 gallons. Their share of excise tax would be $258,825,000.00 per year
Riverside county sold 895,000,000 gallons. Their share of excise tax would be $67,125.000.00 per year
San Bernardino sold 878,000,000 gallons. Their share of the excise tax would be $65,850,000.00 per year
San Joaquin sold 299,000,000 gallons. Their share of the excise tax would be $22,425,000.00 per year.
None of us likes taxes. But it makes quite a bit of sense to tie fuel taxes to court operations because people typically purchase fuel in the neighborhoods in which they live and work…..and get tickets.
*Added: In Los Angeles, a city with three times the gallons sold of any other county, the amount raised would exceed all cuts made by a long shot. Perhaps in the case of the top 3 counties, it would make sense to redistribute a third of those taxes collected evenly among the lower 50 counties.
Judicial Council Watcher 
MaxRebo5
February 18, 2015
Interesting idea JCW. I think the gas tax should fund transportation infrastructure (roads, bridges, mass transit) not courts.
Here is a link to a recent article saying the gas tax is in trouble financially right now due to more efficient cars so this revenue stream is not something the courts should look to as a way to get stable funding:
http://govtslaves.info/falling-gas-tax-revenue-california-lawmakers-considering-mileage-tax-plan/
I do agree with JCW that traffic cases are currently the main caseload area for the courts and I think they represent 5 million of the 7 million cases coming to the courts per year. I think traffic cases are about to be wiped out in the next decade due to technology changes to cars that will basically end traffic “crime” as we know it. Google, Apple, and Sony are all in for these new cars so the biggest tech companies are going to make it happen ASAP.
http://gpsworld.com/apple-sony-may-develop-self-driving-cars/
This huge change for cars is coming the feds estimate between 2020 and 2025. It will change the economy dramatically. Remember when Blockbuster Video stores were found in every town? Blockbuster stores are gone now because the internet allows for streaming movies. Same fate for bookstores and the music industry as we all download content from the web. I live in a city of over 100,000 people and there is just one bookstore left in it. I don’t even have a home phone anymore just a cell phone. Twenty years ago hardly anyone had cell phones. The same dramatic technology changes that hit these industries are coming soon to CA Courts which is completely unprepared. What will CA Courts do if they lose five million traffic cases a year (70% of all cases) by 2025?
Ron George sold the judges on an ever growing caseload, the need for more judgeships, and also ever growing budgets for the branch. Most everyone in the branch loved this vision but it’s not sustainable and it’s already out of step with the real world.
The reality is crime is at historic lows in CA and case filings have been going down consistently statewide since 2009. Also the public is decriminalizing drug use which will impact court criminal caseload even more. Polls show pot is likely to be legalized in 2016 for CA so there goes a lot of misdemeanor possession cases.
This decline in caseloads may get much more extreme in the future. Imagine no more DUI’s and far fewer civil cases too due to an end to most auto accident cases. These dramatic changes for California will make it hard to justify 2,000 judges, 18,000 court employees, plus 800 staff to the Judicial Council. That last one for the Judicial Council is hard to justify even now.
There is no easy solution but this future is what I see realistically coming for the branch. It is likely to be a far smaller CA Courts left instead of the vision Ron George sold to everyone and the current Chief still pushes politically.
The problem is so little is being done to prepare the branch for a smaller workload. The Chief is busy being mean to her political opponents (ACJ’s) inside the branch while all of these larger forces of change happen outside. Her committee of insiders will report back in two years with their report on the future. The image of Nero fiddling while Rome burned comes to mind. Not sure if that really happened but it is not a good image of leadership. As Churchill said, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Sadly if the Chief does start to see this coming my guess is her plan will be to use the smaller caseload as a justification to go after all of the Alliance judges she hates. That’s how political enemies of Team George were handled in the last recession (myself included). They used the budget cuts as an excuse to fire those who they didn’t like. Every crisis is an opportunity.
Shawn
February 19, 2015
NOT even close to reality with these numbers…..get a grip, and check the source and review math before unleashing this fluff
MaxRebo5
February 19, 2015
Pretty sure that new futures committee will be looking very closely at traffic tickets going away for their next report. There are tons of articles on this topic nationally. Here one from the New York Times two years ago (pretty good source don’t you think) so I think I have grip on reality and a good forecast for the future of CA’s caseload.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/the-end-of-parking-tickets-drivers-and-car-insurance/?_r=0#
unionman575
February 19, 2015
Pay the cashier.