Yes on Efficient Courts

Proposition 48 asks Californians to do a bit of constitutional housekeeping. Since voters passed Proposition 220 in 1998, state municipal courts have ceased to exist and all the judges who were on those benches have been elevated to the superior courts.

This consolidation of the state’s municipal and superior courts, now a reality in all 58 counties, helps trial courts run more efficiently, eliminates duplication of services and saves tax money.

Proposition 48 would tidy up the last loose ends from this trial court merger by deleting references in the California Constitution to municipal courts and municipal court judges. These references, like those specifying who can be a municipal court judge, are obsolete since neither the municipal courts nor its judges exist anymore.

The California Law Revision Commission, which backed the trial court merger, recommended that the Legislature put this measure before the voters.

In legislative lingo, Proposition 48 makes “conforming and technical changes” to the Constitution; what it means is dotting the i’s and crossing the last t on changes that California voters made four years ago. It’s an easy “yes” vote.