SACRAMENTO - California's judges and lawyers often point out the increasing numbers of self-represented litigants that stream through the courts. They require special handling and lots of patience, which is hard to come by on overcrowded dockets.
Assemblyman Dave Jones, D-Sacramento, has made access to justice one of his top legislative priorities. The chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee has called a hearing for Tuesday to take a closer look at how to improve the system for the poor and disabled.
Chief Justice Ronald M. George is scheduled to lead off the hearing with an assessment of what the courts hope to do in the coming year, and Jones plans to release a new report by the California Commission on Access to Justice with recommendations for improvements.
During the past 10 years, the courts have worked with lawmakers to try to bridge the gap in legal services between litigants who can afford lawyers and those who can't. In some areas, they have succeeded, whereas in others they have been rebuffed.
One of the bigger successes was the establishment in 1999 of the Equal Access Fund with a $10 million budget. It provided funding for a hundred legal services projects throughout California and partial funding to help some local courts establish self-help centers for impoverished litigants.
Two years ago, Jones successfully carried legislation that set aside $5 million of the court's budget for the fund. And last year, the Judicial Council allocated $3.7 million from the court's budget to expand the number of self-help centers.
But, Jones said recently, that's not enough. He wants to see self-help centers in every county courthouse.
Jones' determination is rooted in his experience as a legal-aid lawyer before turning politician. In the late 1980s, he won key court battles to ensure affordable housing for the poor in Northern California.
He said that, when he was a child, his parents took him to inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago to pick up trash from vacant lots and serve meals to the needy.
Kate Howard, director of the Judicial Council's office of governmental affairs, said George has been meeting with Jones regarding legislation to improve access to justice. Among the goals of the two men is expansion of self-help centers.
"We have a goal of ensuring there is an appropriate array of self-help services in all courts," Howard said. "That is a multiyear plan that we hope to advance incrementally each year."
This year, Jones and his allies were heartened by an element in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal containing $5 million for a three-year pilot project in three counties to provide free legal representation for indigents whose needs exceed what they can get from self-help centers.
"A lot can get the help they need from self-help centers to navigate the system," Howard said. "But there are some cases where the legal issues are more complex or other reasons where a particular party would really benefit from representation by counsel."
The governor's proposal requires legislative approval, and the Legislature is preoccupied this year with health care proposals and infrastructure needs along with the news the state will take in less tax revenue than previously anticipated.
Jones also has tried to get money to provide interpreter services in some civil matters for impoverished, non-English-speaking litigants. Often, the litigants must rely on their children or strangers pulled from courthouse hallways to interpret sensitive information in cases involving domestic violence or child custody.
A bill Jones carried last year was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Schwarzenegger, who said the $10 million first-year price tag would impair the state's ability to pare its deficit.
Jones has promised to pursue it again this year, but Howard said the courts would try to approach it a little differently.
"The next step needs to be more incremental in nature," she said.
Besides the cost, expanding court interpreter services would strain a system short on interpreters, Howard said. It would also require judges to calendar cases on days in which an interpreter was available to assist the litigants, she said.
Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she is also interested in increasing access to justice. She said she is looking into legislation to ensure the public law libraries provide services the self-litigated need to represent themselves in court.
Corbett said she also would work with Jones to add more judges to the bench. Schwarzenegger proposed a budget to enable the hiring of 100 more judges during the next two fiscal years. That could bog down in battles over the judges he appoints, which Democrats have criticized as lacking diversity but which the governor contends have been balanced.
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