COUNTYWIDE : Trial Court Funding for County Restored

Gov. George Deukmejian has signed a bill restoring more than $5 million a year in guaranteed state funding to Ventura County that was inadvertently deleted from state law last year.

The new law, which takes effect immediately, provides that Ventura County’s net share from the Trial Court Funding Act of 1988 will be $5 million per year, plus a cost-of-living increase.

County officials estimate that the law will bring the county’s share of the trial court financing program to $5.6 million for the next fiscal year, beginning July 1.

“It’s great news for the county,” said Delorine Tompkins, senior administrative analyst in the county’s legislative division. “Without that guarantee, we would have actually been in the hole if we had participated in the trial court program.”

Deukmejian’s signature on Thursday was the final step in a peculiar scrimmage in Sacramento to restore the funding guarantee accidentally erased from the lawbooks by another bill.

Assembly Members Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley) and Jack O’Connell (D-Carpinteria) sponsored the bill, which faced several setbacks during its legislative journey. At one time, the bill was even tied to a controversial proposal requiring the state to finance the Oakland Zoo.

As it is written, the Trial Court Funding Act will save Ventura County $7.3 million in costs to run the court system for fiscal 1990-91, according to county estimates.

But state law requires the county to share $3.1 million of its savings with cities that collect little or no property taxes, including Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Camarillo. Under these calculations, the county’s net savings next year would have been $4.2 million--if the funding guarantee had not been restored.

With the reinstated provision, the state will have to pay the county an extra $1.4 million to make up the difference between the $4.2 million in savings and the $5.6 million guaranteed funding level.