Reports and Resources:
Judicial Branch (AB 1473) Five-Year Infrastructure Plan

Background of the Five-Year Plan

The Task Force on Court Facilities identified the current, pressing need for substantial improvements to court facilities, in its October 2001 final report. Building on the task force's recommendations, the AOC—in conjunction with the local courts and counties—developed a 20-year facilities master plan for each of the 58 superior courts in California. These plans, developed between 2001 and 2003, formed the basis for the first Trial Court Five-Year Capital-Outlay Plan.

The Judicial Council, in accordance with its responsibility under the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, approved the first Trial Court Five-Year Capital-Outlay Plan on February 27, 2004, in order to recommend to the Governor and the Legislature that projects be funded from the State Court Facilities Construction Fund.

In June 2005, a five-year plan for the entire Judicial Branch was developed, referencing all projects for the trial courts (i.e., Trial Court Five-Year Capital-Outlay Plan) in addition to those for the appellate courts and for the different offices of the AOC. This plan, titled AB 1473 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan Fiscal Year 2006–2007, contained a sequentially-ranked list of 201 trial court projects with project costs in January 2005 dollars.

At its meeting on February 24, 2006, the Judicial Council approved the Judicial Branch AB 1473 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan for fiscal year 2007–2008. This plan included adjusted trial court project costs to January 2006 dollars and summarized the FY 2007–2008 funding requests to the State Department of Finance (DOF) for various trial and appellate court projects. In August 2006, the Judicial Council approved a new methodology for prioritizing new trial court construction and renovation projects. The Judicial Branch Five-Year Plan for FY 2007–2008, submitted to the DOF on September 8, 2006, included this methodology and 181 trial court projects sorted into five project priority groups.

In April 2007, the Judicial Branch AB 1473 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan for fiscal year 2008–2009 was approved by the Judicial Council. This plan included a trial court capital-outlay plan of 175 projects, with project budgets adjusted to January 2007 dollars and a summary of the FY 2008–2009 project funding requests submitted to the DOF.

The latest plan—which is the Judicial Branch AB 1473 Five-Year Infrastructure Plan for FY 2009–2010—was approved by the Judicial Council in April 2008. It includes an updated trial court capital-outlay plan of 152 new-construction, addition, and major renovation projects, as well as a summary of the FY 2009–2010 project funding requests submitted to the DOF. Of the 152 total projects contained within the updated Trial Court Five-Year Capital-Outlay Plan, 83 are new construction to replace obsolete existing court facilities, 34 are renovations to existing court facilities, and 35 are expansions of existing or future court facilities.

Each year and in accordance with Assembly Bill 1473, the AOC submits an updated Judicial Branch Five-Year Infrastructure Plan to the DOF, as part of the court-project-funding-request process for the upcoming fiscal year.

<< back