A scorchingreport from California State Auditor Elaine Howle found that the Administrative Office of the Courts, now called the Judicial Council, spent $386 million over four years on statewide services that nearly half of California’s 58 trial courts don’t use – including $186 million on contractors and consultants.

Remember that the Administrative Office of the Courts was responsible for the debacle of the failed $2 BILLION Californiacourts computer system, paid with money allotted for state trial court operations. Thisunbelievably high costwas spent on the faulty computer system while courtrooms closed, courthouse employees furloughed, and criminal and civil cases take record time to come to trial.

The AOC’s primary function is to provide services to the courts. However, rather than making immediate corrections as the State Auditor recommended, following the damning report, the Administrative… Read More

A scorchingreport from California State Auditor Elaine Howle, found that the Administrative Office of the Courts, now called the Judicial Council, spent $386 million over four years on statewide services that nearly half of California’s 58 trial courts don’t use – including $186 million on contractors and consultants.

Now, the Administrative Office of the Courts is trying take away the authority for decision making of trial court funds from the independent Trial Court Budget Advisory Committee, and give it to the Judicial Council’s Committee on Accountability and Efficiency — the same committee that approved big raises for top AOC officials as its first official action under its then-chair, Justice Cantil-Sakauye.

It’s akin to City Councils voting for their own… Read More

The Administrative Office of the Courts is in the news once again, and again, it’s not good news.Known as the central bureaucracy for California’s courts, the AOC has a rich history of statewide controversy.

Following a promotion of the state judiciary’s top lobbyist to a specially created executive position at the Administrative Office of the Courts, Curtis Child, theAdministrative Office of the Courts Chief Operating Officer,has been billing taxpayers for travel from his home in Sacramento to the San Francisco AOC office where he works, according to Courthouse News Service and the Alliance of California Judges.

Curtis Child, the former AOC lobbyist, has been billing taxpayers for lodging, tolls, parking, and travel costs of working from Sacramento, where he lives, when the AOC office and 223 employees he manages are in San Francisco, the Alliance of California Judges and Courthouse News… Read More