Under the terms of Proposition 220, the vote to unify transfers Municipal Court functions to the Superior Court, eliminates the six former Municipal Court Districts in Alameda County, and consolidates case jurisdiction, judges and staff of the Municipal Courts with the Alameda County Superior Court. The unified Alameda County Superior Court is now comprised of 68 Superior Court Judges, 16 Court Commissioners and 722 regular court employees, operating in 17 court facilities located in the cities of Alameda, Berkeley, Fremont, Hayward, Oakland, Pleasanton and San Leandro.
The newly constituted Superior Court has jurisdiction in all trial court matters, including: criminal felonies and misdemeanors; general civil; small claims; juvenile dependency and delinquency; family law; probate; mental health; traffic; and appeals of limited civil (formerly municipal court civil cases, under $25,000) and criminal misdemeanor cases. Under unification, all judges within Alameda County may hear any of these case types. Proposition 220 creates an Appellate Division of the Superior Court, which replaces the previously existing Appellate Department, but retains the same jurisdictional authority.
The unification of the courts in Alameda County represents an extension of a three year effort to implement California Rule of Court (CRC) 991, which required a countywide plan for Judicial Coordination and Administrative Consolidation. Between 1995 and May of 1998, the Trial Courts in Alameda County worked to achieve the goals and objectives of CRC 991 by developing and implementing a countywide plan to coordinate court activities to the fullest extent permitted by law, including: (1) judicial governance through a single presiding judge, six supervising judges and the Alameda County Coordination Oversight Committee; (2) coordinating the assignment of cases to municipal and superior court judges; (3) the ongoing development of courtwide automation systems; (4) the establishment of unified local court rules; and (5) full administrative consolidation under a single executive officer with countywide administrative responsibilities. Unification further enhances the Superior Court's delivery of services to the public by maximizing its use of judicial resources, facilities and court staff, which provides greater flexibility in meeting the public's need for court services.
With trial court unification, the Court has embarked on a process of evaluating and analyzing how the court should be organized, and how and where the court services should exist in order to provide both the most efficiency while providing maximum access to the courts. This is a process which was begun in August, 1998, and which is expected to continue throughout 1999 and beyond. As the court provides services in 17 different facilities in communities throughout Alameda County, this reorganization process will be a deliberate one with careful consideration given to countywide coordination of all court services in order to meet the goals and objectives of Proposition 220, Trial Court Unification.
