Meetings of Judges.Rule 100.Meetings of Judges.
Meetings of judges of the court shall be called periodically by the presiding judge or by any two other judges.
(Amended, effective 7/1/85)
Rule 101.Selection and Duties of Presiding Judge.
The business of the court shall be supervised by one of the judges, to be known as the presiding judge. The presiding judge shall be elected at the judges' meeting by a majority vote of all the judges and shall assume the duties of presiding judge on the first working day of January. The term of office shall be for two calendar years. The duties of the presiding judge shall be those duties set forth in CRC Rule 205.
(Amended, effective 1/1/92)
Rule 102.Assistant Presiding Judge.
An assistant presiding judge, who in the presiding judge's absence shall exercise the powers of the presiding judge, shall be selected by the presiding judge in accordance with CRC Rule 205(2). The assistant presiding judge shall be selected from amongst the judges in the opposite division of the court in which the presiding judge sits.
(Amended, effective 1/1/92)
Rule 103.North County Supervising Judge.
(Repealed, effective 7/13/92)
Rule 104.Court Executive Officer.
The judges of the court may appoint a person as court executive officer who shall act as court administrator-jury commissioner and who shall serve at the pleasure of the majority of the judges of the court. The duties of such office shall be as set forth in CRC Rule 207.
(Amended, effective 7/1/85)
Rule 105.Office of the County Clerk.
The principal office of the Clerk of Superior Court is located at the County Courthouse, 1100 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara, California 93101. A branch office of the Clerk of Superior Court is established in the city of Santa Maria and located in the County Building at 312 East Cook Street, Santa Maria, California 93454.
(Amended, effective 1/1/96)
Rule 106.Santa Maria Session of the Court.
Pursuant to the provisions of Gov. Code Sec. 69746, a session of the superior court of the State of California for the county of Santa Barbara shall be held in the city of Santa Maria.
Rule 107.Court Security.
The sheriff of Santa Barbara County, as chief law enforcement officer of this county, is hereby designated court security officer and he shall be responsible for court security and shall comply with Standards of Judicial Administration recommended by the Judicial Council, Sec. 7. The sheriff shall provide a bailiff for each department of this court. The bailiff's duty is to assure court security. In the execution of this duty, each bailiff will be under the direction of the judge to whom he is assigned.
Rule 108.Jurisdictional Geographic Division of County.
For the purpose of these rules, it shall be hypothetically assumed that Santa Barbara County has been geographically divided into two separate counties hereinafter referred to as "South County" and "North County."
"South County" is geographically described as the portion of Santa Barbara County lying southerly and easterly of the following described line:
Beginning at the intersection of the west bank of Gaviota Creek and the mean high tide line of the Pacific Ocean; northerly to intersection with the westerly right-of-way line of U.S. Highway 101; northerly along the westerly right-of-way line of U.S. Highway 101 to the south bank of the Santa Ynez River; easterly along the south bank of said river to the westerly right-of-way line of Happy Canyon Road and Figueroa Mountain Road; northerly and northeasterly along said right-of-way line to the boundary line between Township 8 North and Township 7 North; and easterly along said boundary line to the Ventura County line, including the islands of Anacapa, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz.
"North County" is geographically described as the remainder of Santa Barbara County.
For reference, see the "Jurisdictional Map" for a plat of the area hereinabove described as "South County," on file in the office of the clerk of the superior court.
Trial jury selection in Santa Barbara shall be in accordance with CCP Sec. 199.5.
(Amended, effective 1/1/92)
Rule 109.Intra-County Venue: Place of Original Filing.
When, under either civil or criminal venue laws of this state, "North County" would be a "proper county" for venue, hypothetically assuming it were a separate county, all filings for such matters shall be in the county clerk's office in Santa Maria. All other filings shall be in the county clerk's office in Santa Barbara.
Any filing erroneously made in South County may, upon motion of any party or upon the court's motion, be transferred to North County. Likewise, any matter erroneously filed in North County shall, in the same manner, be transferred to South County. The court may order an intra-county transfer upon good cause shown.
Rule 110.Grand Jury.
The selection of the grand jury shall be conducted according to the procedure set forth in Penal Code Sec. 896 et seq. The jury commissioner shall ascertain that each nominee complies with Penal Code Sec. 893.
The court shall interview all volunteer applicants who have submitted properly completed applications. After certifying which applicants are competent and qualified, the names shall be deposited into five separate boxes according to the supervisorial district in which the applicant resides. The clerk shall randomly draw an appropriate number of names, as directed by the court, from each supervisorial district. The judges shall jointly nominate those names for grand jury duty and have said names deposited into the "grand jury box" by the county clerk. Another drawing shall be held to reduce the randomly drawn applicants to 15 names. Those names shall be combined with the names of 15 other volunteer applicants which have been nominated by the court to comprise a total of 30 names. A final, random drawing shall be held from the pool of 30 names to select the necessary number of members of the grand jury.
Any grand juror who fails to obey the oath taken or charge by the court pursuant to Penal Code Secs. 911 or 914, may be subject to removal from office by the presiding judge.
(Amended, effective 7/1/88)
Rule 111.1.Court Administrator or Executive Officer as Clerk of Court.
Pursuant to Government Code Sec. 69898, the Court Administrator or Executive Officer of this Court is hereby appointed to perform all functions, and to exercise all powers, duties and responsibilities of the Clerk of this Court, and the County Clerk is hereby relieved of all such powers, duties and responsibilities, and of any obligation imposed on him by law regarding same. In any instance where California statutes, California Rules of Court or these Rules make reference to the Clerk of Superior Court, the Clerk of Court, or to the County Clerk in his capacity as Clerk of Court, this shall, on and after July 1, 1994, mean the Court's Superior Court Administrator or Executive Officer, as appointed by the judges of the Court, a majority concurring, acting in the capacity of Clerk of the Court. (Adopted, effective 7/1/94)
Rule 111.2.Transfer of Clerk of Court Functions and Budget (Transitional).
(Adopted, effective 7/1/94; repealed, effective 1/1/96)
Rule 111.3.Transfer of Clerk of Court Personnel (Transitional).
(Adopted, effective 7/1/94; repealed, effective 1/1/96)
Rule 111.4.Acceptance and Application of Existing Agreement(s), on Transfer (Transitional).
Except as may otherwise be provided by California Statutes, California Rules of Court, or provided or modified by Rules of this Court, the current Memorandum of Understanding dated November 18, 1992 and the appended Letter of Understanding dated April 30, 1992, between the County of Santa Barbara and Service Employees International Union, Local 620, shall continue to apply to all Clerk of Court personnel represented under these agreements, and the Superior Court hereby accepts responsibility as employer and signatory under said agreements, jointly with the County of Santa Barbara. The foregoing is subject to negotiation of new agreement(s) between the parties, as provided by the existing agreement(s). It is the intent of the Court that all represented Court employees be covered in any subsequent Memoranda of Understanding negotiated, and that the negotiation process include Court-appointed negotiation representatives, and that any such agreements be formally approved by the judges of the Court, a majority concurring. (Adopted, effective 7/1/94)
Rule 111.5.Application of County Personnel Rules and Policies.
The provisions of the Civil Service Rules, Employee Relations Ordinance, Administrative Policy and Procedures Manual, Affirmative Action Plan and Sexual Harassment Policy of the County of Santa Barbara, shall apply to all Superior Court employees, except where inconsistent with California statutes, California Rules of Court, or Rules or Personnel Plan(s) of this Court in which event the latter shall be controlling. In any instance where the County Personnel Rules, Policies or Procedures make reference to any process of approval or review of administrative decisions regarding personnel matters, by the County Civil Service Commission or the County Board of Supervisors, this authority is, instead, expressly vested in the judges of the Superior Court, a majority concurring; except as to the establishment of salary ranges or economic employee benefits for Court employees or employee classifications, to the extent that such authority may be vested in the County Board of Supervisors. (Adopted, effective 7/1/94)
Rule 111.6.County Personnel and Labor Relations Services.
All process of meet and confer and negotiation between represented Court employees, their designated representatives and the Court and County shall be conducted jointly by Court and County, in concert, with Court-appointed labor relations representatives actively participating with County labor relations representatives, as to both economic and non-economic issues. Such process shall include Court participation with County in all related posture and strategy planning meetings, and with regular briefings of, and solicitation of recommendations from, Court management personnel, and with presentation for ratification of any subsequent agreements, as to both economic and non-economic issues, to both County Board of Supervisors and judges of the Superior court, for approval. In the event that the Board of Supervisors and a majority of Superior Court judges fail to agree as to ratification of all issues in any agreements, the approval of only the Court will be required as to non-economic issues, and of the Board of Supervisors as to economic issues. For purposes of these rules, economic issues shall be limited specifically to the establishment of salary ranges and compensation-related employee benefits. (Adopted, effective 7/1/94)
Rule 112.Court Control of Access to Courts; Procedure; Sanctions; Motion for Relief from Order.
The Superior Court controls the use and occupation of the courtrooms, corridors, and adjacent public spaces, when court is in session and immediately before and after court sessions, as necessary to allow the courts to function, and to protect the right of access to court proceedings by parties litigant, witnesses, observers, and the general public.
The purpose of this Local Rule is to clarify the procedures for protection of the operations of the court gainst disruption or obstruction due to noise, crowding, or other disruptive conditions occurring in the courthouse between the courtoom doors and the public access doors, including where necessary the adjacent areas outside the courthouse, but immediately under the courtoom windows and within the hearing of persons within the courtrooms.
The court finds that on certain occasions in the recent past, media and public interest in court proceedings has been so great as to produce dangerous and disruptive conditions of noise and crowding in the courthouse corridors, such as to impede access to the courts, and such as to impair the ability of the courts to discharge their functions.
The Presiding Judge and Assistant Presiding Judge are hereby empowered to make orders to limit the occupancy of the courthouse corridors, and to limit and control the behavior of persons gathered therein, when the circumstances indicate that the operations of the court, or public access to the court, is being disrupted or is about to be disrupted by congestion or disturbance.
Before limiting the activities of members of the news media within the courthouse, or in the areas immediately adjacent to the court building within the courthouse grounds, the court shall give such notice as is practical in the circumstances to all identifiable news media members who may be affected by an order under this rule, and offer them an opportunity to make a showing that the proposed order is unnecessary, or should be modified.
Nothing in this Local Rule affects the procedures established in California Rules of Court, Rules 890 et seq., regarding the coverage of court proceedings by electronic media.
Each judge is empowered, on the same grounds and by the same procedures as specified in this rule, to control congestion, noise levels, and disruptive behavior in the corridors leading to the courtroom to which the judge is assigned, from the courtroom door to the outside access doors, and including the spaces immediately under the windows of that courtroom.
Any party aggrieved by an order made pursuant to this Local Rule may apply to the court to modify the order, or to be exempted from it, by making a request in writing to the judge who issued the order, or to the Presiding Judge or Assistant Presiding Judge if the judge who issued the order is not available within a reasonable time, stating in writing, under penalty of perjury, the specific impact of the order on the party requesting exemption or modification.
Willful violation of an order made under this Local Rule, after knowledge of the order, is subject to sanctions, including monetary sanctions imposed as provided by California Code of Civil Procedure section 177.5, as well as punishment for contempt of court as provided by Code of Civil Procedure, sections 178 and 1209, or Penal Code section 166.
(Adopted, effective 1/1/96)
