Phase Two: Overview of Current Efforts in Local Court Planning

Trial Court Strategic Plans, FY 2001--2002, Reviewed at Judicial Council's Planning Meeting, February 28, 2002.  Plans Have Been Posted to Serranus Web site.
Electronic versions of the FY 2001-2002 trial court strategic plans — most of them complete to the operational plan level — have been posted to the Serranus Web site (http://serranus.courtinfo.ca.gov) under the programs menu option (note:  only those courts that provided an electronic plan document are posted on the Web site).  An analysis of the plans was submitted to the Judicial Council at its February 28, 2002, planning meeting. 

Trial Court Strategic Plans, FY 2000--2001 Reviewed at Judicial Council's Planning Meeting, February 22, 2001
At its February 22, 2001 planning meeting, the Judicial Council learned that 57 of the state's 58 trial courts have submitted final strategic plans for the state's current six-year planning cycle.  Administrative Office of the Courts' staff reported that with few exceptions, the goals and issues detailed in the final plans is the same as those articulated in the inaugural plans submitted in December 2000.

Additional treand analysis was the most significant difference between inaugural and final strategic plans.  Emerging trends identified by the courts included:

  • Polarization of people by class, race, ethnicity and lifestyle;
  • High attrition rates among court employees;
  • Increasing use of "business standards" by the public in evaluating court services.

Members of the California Court Community (judicial officers and court employees) can review plan submissions for this year and last by visiting Serranus, the private Web site for California's courts.  Courts that have not already done so are encouraged to submit an electronic version of their plan for posting on Serranus.

Local Court Planning, Fiscal Year 1999--2000:  94% of California County Courts Submit Strategic Plan in Inaugural Year
The vast majority of county-wide court planning teams that attended the May 1998 California Statewide Conference, Courts and Their Communities: Local Planning and the Renewal of Public Trust and Confidence, recently completed the first phase of the statewide community-focused court planning initiative by submitting a court strategic plan to the Community-Focused Court Planning Implementation Committee. The committee, charged by the Judicial Council with overseeing the initiative, met in January 2000 for an initial overview of the plans submitted. Aditional plans have been submitted since January bringing the statewide submission rate to an impressive 94%.

Assisting them in the effort was a group of analysts from the Administrative Office of the Courts who analyzed a preliminary list of issues across county court plans. These preliminary issues were derived from the policy directions in the Judicial Council’s Strategic Plan; however, analysts also identified and added other prominent issues and motifs as they were uncovered in the local plans. The goal of the process is to ensure that the council is made aware of possible new policy directions—those issues that local courts have emphasized, as well as the planning processes and emerging trends, in their strategic court plans.

The Community-Focused Court Planning Implementation Committee will use this information to develop recommendations to the Judicial Council for future statewide and local court planning activities. Following the Judicial Council’s review of the committee’s report, a summary of results will be made available to local courts.

Process of County-wide Community-Focused Court Planning Efforts:

County court planning teams who attended the May 1998 statewide conference were charged with returning to their home counties and initiating Community-Focused court planning activities. Those activities were unique in each county because they were tailored to the unique demographics and circumstances of each county. Generally speaking, the teams implemented the five-step Community-Focused court planning model by:

  • Identifying additional people to be added to the local planning team to ensure diversity and broad representation of the community;
  • Developing a team action plan to guide the team's activities, including publicizing the courts' efforts in seeking community input and involvement;
  • Creating opportunities for the team to meet with the judges and courts staff of all the courts in their counties to inform them of the planning effort and to solicit their input, perspective, and support for the initial county-wide court strategic plan;
  • Identifying the ways in which public input should be sought, including the possible use of (a) surveys, and (b) scheduling, publicizing, and conducting public meetings, focus groups, neighborhood meetings, or other gatherings at which members of the community could identify areas of concern and suggested solutions; and
  • Drafting a locally created countywide court strategic plan for submission to the Judicial Council to inform its statewide strategic planning efforts and to support resource requests.

List of County Planning Teams