(CN) - A bill on Gov. Jerry Brown's desk would restrict courts' ability to outsource jobs to contractors, after a fierce lobbying battle between judges saying the bill crosses the line into their turf and union reps arguing that the judiciary should follow the same rules as the rest of California government.
The bill, AB 556, says courts can hire private contractors only if it can be demonstrated that the switch would save money, among other conditions.
"In our opinion this bill is an overreach, not only into our discretion but into good business practices to reduce costs at a time when we have less funding," Presiding Judge Laurie Earl of Sacramento said in an interview.
From the labor point of view, contracting simply transfers public funds into private hands. "What you're doing is exchanging wages and benefits for employees for a for-profit company," said Michelle Castro with the union that represents many court workers. "The courts aren't going to pay less money."
Introduced by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), AB 566 establishes standards for private contracting by the courts that are similar to those in place for community colleges, public libraries and school districts in California.
"When we moved to state funding of our courts they were no longer part of the county system, and many of these good government laws were not yet applied to the courts," said Wieckowski. "Over the last few years the legislature has systematically moved to reinstate such laws that provide accountability and transparency to the trial court system."
In its language, the bill conditions private contracts on a demonstration of savings.
"The trial court shall clearly demonstrate that the contract will result in actual overall cost savings to the trial court for the duration of the entire contract as compared with the trial court's actual costs of providing the same services," it says.
In addition, "The contract shall not be approved if, in light of the services provided by trial courts and the special nature of the judicial function, it would be inconsistent with the public interest to have the services covered by the contract performed by a private entity."
The bill requires each court to report to the Legislature's Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairs of both the Senate and Assembly judiciary committees on whether the contract resulted in court employee firings and whether their work is being replaced by contractors.
It passed with big majorities out of the judiciary committees for both houses in June, passed with almost majorities of almost two-thirds on both house floors this month, and moved to the governor's desk late Wednesday.
Senator Noreen Evans (D- Santa Rosa) who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for the bill both in her committee and on the floor. Evans also sits on the rule-making body for the courts, the Judicial Council, and regularly supports the judiciary's position on issues before her committee.
"I am not unsympathetic to the issues that are raised by the Judicial Council," Evans said at the June hearing on AB 566. She did not set out her reasons for voting in favor of the bill that passed her committee on a 5-2 vote.