(a) Commencing July 1, 2005, the counties’ obligation to remit to the Trial Court Trust Fund each fiscal year the difference between thirty-one million dollars ($31,000,000) and the amount remitted to the Trial Court Trust Fund under Section 68085.5 shall expire. The counties thereafter shall be obligated to remit to the Trial Court Trust Fund the following amounts:
(1) In the 2005–06 fiscal year, twenty million dollars ($20,000,000).
(2) In the 2006–07 fiscal year, fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000).
(3) In the 2007–08 fiscal year, ten million dollars ($10,000,000).
(4) In the 2008–09 fiscal year, five million dollars ($5,000,000).
(5) In the 2009–10 fiscal year and thereafter, the obligation shall expire.
(b) If the amounts remitted annually to the Trial Court Trust Fund, pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section, and the amendments made to Section 68085.5 of the Government Code and Section 1214.1 of the Penal Code by the act that added this section, are less than the differences between thirty-one million dollars ($31,000,000) and the amounts specified in paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive, of subdivision (a), no additional state funds shall be appropriated to the courts to mitigate these revenue shortfalls.
(c) In the 2005–06 fiscal year, the amount described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) shall be remitted to the Trial Court Trust Fund in two equal installments on February 15, 2006, and May 15, 2006. In each subsequent fiscal year, the amount described in subdivision (a) shall be remitted to the Trial Court Trust Fund in four equal installments, due on October 1, January 1, April 1, and May 1. Each county shall pay the installments from all available resources, including the county’s general fund.
(d) Any payment to correct for an overpayment or underpayment made in any fiscal year shall be paid to the appropriate party on or before November 15 of the subsequent fiscal year.
(e) All moneys required to be paid to the Trial Court Trust Fund under this section shall be considered delinquent if not paid by the dates specified in this section, and shall be subject to the penalties set forth in Section 68085.
(f) Penalty amounts calculated under subdivision (e) shall be paid by the county or the city and county to the Trial Court Trust Fund no later than 45 days after the end of the month in which the penalty was calculated.
(g) The portion of the amount in subdivision (a) to be paid by each county shall be determined by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) and the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) with the following conditions:
(1) Any county that did not receive a reduction of county remittances for support of trial courts to compensate for loss of civil assessment revenue under Section 68085.7 shall not be required to make any payments under this section.
(2) No county’s payment in any year, commencing in the 2005–06 fiscal year, shall be greater than 90 percent of the annual payment that county was required to pay toward the thirty-one million dollars ($31,000,000) in subdivision (e) of Section 68085.5 as it read on January 1, 2004.
(3) The AOC and the CSAC shall determine the portion of the amounts in subdivision (a) to be paid by each county on or before October 31, 2005. If the AOC and the CSAC do not agree on the portions, they may request a mutually agreed-upon third party to arbitrate and determine the portion for each county. The portions shall be determined on or before December 31, 2005.
(h) On or before June 30, 2006, the AOC and the CSAC shall agree upon a methodology to determine whether the growth in revenue to the Trial Court Trust Fund created by the transfer of revenues under this section and Section 68085.7 has significantly exceeded projected levels so that a reduction in the counties’ obligation under paragraph (4) of subdivision (a) should be recommended to the Legislature.
(i) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to alter or make void the shift of responsibility for court funding from the counties to the state.
(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 74, Sec. 44. Effective July 19, 2005.)