Agenda

Return

D.2

To:	Board of Supervisors
From:	Monica Nino, County Administrator
Date:	May 9, 2023

Contra

Costa

County

Subject:

FOLLOW-UP REPORT ON CONTRA COSTA COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY

APPROVE	OTHER
RECOMMENDATION OF CNTY ADMINISTRATOR	RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE

Action of Board On: 05/09/2023

APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED

OTHER

Clerks Notes:

See Addendum

VOTE OF SUPERVISORS

AYE:

John Gioia, District I Supervisor
Candace Andersen, District II Supervisor
Diane Burgis, District III Supervisor
Ken Carlson, District IV Supervisor
Federal D. Glover, District V Supervisor

Contact:

Timothy M. Ewell, (925) 655-2043

I hereby certify that this is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown.
ATTESTED: May 9, 2023
Monica Nino, County Administrator

BY:	, Deputy

RECOMMENDATION(S):

ACCEPT follow up report on the Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury, including stipends and outreach efforts.

FISCAL IMPACT:

No fiscal impact. This report is informational only.

BACKGROUND:

On February 2, 2023, the Board of Supervisors received a presentation from members of the Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury Association acknowledging Civil Grand Jury Awareness month. As part of that presentation, members of the Association advocated that the Board augment renumeration to members of the Civil Grand Jury. The Board subsequently directed the County Administrator to return with an informational report about Civil Grand Jury stipends and outreach information.

BACKGROUND: (CONT'D)

Civil Grand Juries in California

Civil Grand Juries are required to be impaneled in every California County each year, typically on a fiscal year basis, with jurors being appointed by the Presiding Judge of the Superior Court,". . . to investigate or inquire into county matters of civil concern, such as the needs of county officers, including the abolition or creation of offices for, the purchase, lease, or sale of equipment for, or changes in the method or system of, performing the duties of the agencies subject to investigation pursuant to Section 914.1" (Penal Code Section 888). In Contra Costa County, 19 jurors are to be appointed annually based on our population figures, consistent with Penal Code section 888.2.

Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury Recruitment

In Contra Costa County, the Superior Court typically begins the recruitment process in January-February each year in anticipation of impaneling a Grand Jury effective July 1st (beginning of the fiscal year). Most recently, the Superior Court issued a press release on January 30, 2023 seeking applicants for next year's Civil Grand Jury with an application deadline of March 24, 2023. The Superior Court sought at least 70 applicants, which subsequently would be interviewed by Superior Court Judges with the goal of advancing 30 nominees to Livescan background check. Ultimately, the final 19 jurors would be chosen from a blind drawing of the 30 nominees (assuming all remain qualified following the Livescan process). A copy of the Contra Costa Superior Court press release from January 30, 2023 is attached as Attachment A for reference.

Contra Costa County Outreach Support

The County amplifies the Superior Court's outreach process through social media channels, County Supervisor newsletters and listing on the County website during the course of the application period. For example, in the latest recruitment cycle, the County used it's Twitter platform to provide information in English and Spanish about the application process. Each tweet was seen over 800 times. In addition, the East Bay Times, KRON Channel 4, and the Contra Costa Herald provided media coverage about the 2023 recruitment process.

Civil Grand Jury Recruitment Results

The Contra Costa Superior Court has provided data on the past three Civil Grand Jury recruitment cycles, including FY 2020/21, FY 2022/23 and FY2023/24. It is important to note that there was no Civil Grand Jury impaneled from January-June 2022, which is the reason for the appearance of a gap in the FY 2021/22 recruitment cycle.

In each of the three prior recruitment cycles, the Superior Court received sufficient applications to fill the required 19 seats on the Civil Grand Jury. For example, the ratio of applicants to positions varied from 2.9x to 3.8x as illustrated below:

Note that carryover applicants are current civil grand jurors that are applying for continued service on the civil grand jury in the next fiscal year.

Civil Grand Jury Renumeration

Civil Grand Jurors are entitled to renumeration for their service. Penal Code section 890 provides that a per diem rate of ". . . fifteen dollars ($15) a day for each day’s attendance as a grand juror, and the mileage reimbursement applicable to county employees for each mile actually traveled in attending court as a grand juror" be remitted to civil grand jurors unless a higher rate has been adopted by ordinance by a specific County. Further, Penal Code section 890.1 provides that the per diem rate and mileage reimbursement be paid from the county general fund in each county upon the written order of the judge of the superior court of the county.

Since 2020, County staff has maintained a survey of civil grand jury compensation trends among the nine (9) Bay Area counties. It is important to note that direct comparisons are difficult because of a "per-diem" vs. "per meeting" approach to renumeration that varies from county-to-county. Specifically, five (5) counties provide a "per diem" (or per day) stipend and four (4) counties provide a "per meeting" stipend. This is a critical distinction in comparing stipend rates between counties. For example, counties that provide a "per meeting" stipend may result in a grand juror drawing multiple stipends per day following attendance at multiple meetings. This could be one meeting of the entire grand jury followed by a separate meeting on the same day of a grand jury sub-committee that a juror may be assigned to. Conversely, counties that provide a "per-diem" stipend simply pay that amount per day regardless of the amount of meetings attended.

Contra Costa County compensates civil grand jurors on a "per meeting" basis with a cap of no more than two meetings (one meeting of the grand jury as a whole and one meeting of a committee) per 24 hour period, pursuant to County Ordinance Code section 28-4.002. The stipend rate is $15 per meeting, which effectively means that the County can pay up to $30 per day if a civil grand juror attends one meeting of the grand jury as a whole and one meeting of a grand jury committee. The Auditor-Controller's Office provided guidance to the Superior Court on this approach along with reimbursement of mileage and civil grand jury expenses in a letter dated June 25, 2019, which is included as Attachment B for reference.

Contra Costa County Comparison to Bay Area Counties

Taking into consideration both the "per-diem" and "per meeting" approaches to renumeration and that Contra Costa County takes a "per meeting" approach with a daily meeting cap, it is necessary to develop an analytical approach to comparing data from each county other than simply comparing the "per diem" or "per meeting" rates. Staff has developed a comparison tool that establishes a daily maximum for Contra Costa County to be used as a baseline for comparison purposes. Essentially, the Contra Costa County daily maximum rate is set at $30 (up to two meetings at $15 per meeting) and each County is compared using either a "per -diem" daily rate or a daily rate equivalent to two meeting rates for "per meeting" counties. The results of this comparison are illustrated below.

The analysis shows that maximum daily renumeration benchmarked against the Contra Costa County standard of up to $30 per day shows that San Mateo reimburses at the highest daily equivalent rate of $40 per day followed by Contra Costa and Sonoma counties at $30 per day. The median daily reimbursement rate among the Bay Area counties is $20 /day. A more detailed comparison can be found in Attachment C for reference.

Today's report is informational only, with no action being requested of the Board. Staff will be able to answer any questions and take direction regarding any next steps identified by the Board.

CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:

The informational report will not be accepted by the Board of Supervisors.

CHILDREN'S IMPACT STATEMENT:

No impact.

CLERK'S ADDENDUM

Speakers: Caller 1; Caller 6770.

ACCEPTED follow up report on the Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury, including stipends and outreach efforts; and DIRECTED the County Administrator's Office to draft a letter for the Chair of the Board to sign requesting the court system for provision of additional data on applicants received for the Civil Grand Jury, including but not limited to: age, gender; ethnicity, geographic area.