Courts: data reporting., the official text

An act to add Section 68652 to the Government Code, relating to courts.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

Existing law, the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act, requires legal counsel to be appointed to represent low-income parties in civil matters involving critical issues affecting basic human needs in courts selected by the Judicial Council. The act requires the Judicial Council to develop one or more programs to provide competitive grants to provide legal counsel to low-income persons who require legal services in civil matters involving specific types of civil matters, including, among others, housing-related matters, probate conservatorships, guardianships, and domestic violence and civil harassment restraining orders. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to consider various factors, including, among others, the unmet need for legal services in the geographic area to be served, in selecting and renewing participating programs. Existing law requires program applicants to, among other things, describe how the program would be administered and the means by which the program would serve the particular needs of the community, such as by providing representation to limited-English-speaking clients.
This bill would require courts to provide the Judicial Council each month with information regarding unlawful detainer cases, as specified, aggregated by ZIP Code. The bill would require the Judicial Council to make that information publicly available online every 4 months.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
Section 68652 is added to the Government Code, to read:
68652.
(a) Each court shall report to the Judicial Council every month the total number of each of the following data points for unlawful detainer cases, aggregated by the ZIP Code of the premises in the lawsuit:
(1) Cases filed each month.
(2) Cases in which defendants were represented by counsel at case resolution, including, but not limited to, at the point of settlement or the point when a decision was made at trial.
(3) Cases in which landlords were represented by counsel at case resolution, including, but not limited to, at the point of settlement or when a decision was made at trial.
(4) Cases that were subject to default, stipulated, or other types of pretrial judgments.
(5) Cases that went to trial, and of those cases that went to trial, how many were a bench trial and how many were a jury trial.
(6) Cases that were dismissed before trial at the plaintiff’s request.
(7) Cases that resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff or for the defendant.
(b) The data points provided to the Judicial Council pursuant to subdivision (a) shall only pertain to unlawful detainer cases filed on or after January 1, 2026.
(c) Every four months, the Judicial Council shall post all information received pursuant to subdivision (a) in a publicly available electronic spreadsheet that may be downloaded from its internet website.