There are four vacancies on the 28-judge court, the most recent one occurring when Judge Procter Hug Jr. took senior status Jan. 1.

Judge James Browning took senior status Sept. 1 of last year. Previous vacancies resulted when Judge Cynthia Holcomb Hall took senior status Aug. 31, 1997 and when the late Judge Charles E. Wiggins took senior status Dec. 31, 1996.

President Bush resubmitted the nominations of Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl and Hawaii attorney and Republican activist Richard R. Clifton on Sept. 4.

Kuhl and Clifton were originally nominated last June 22. The nominations were returned to the president on Aug. 3 when a disagreement over other nominees resulted in the Senate returning all pending nominations.

Senate rules require that all pending nominations be returned to the president when the Senate goes into recess absent unanimous consent.

Kuhl, 48, is a six-year veteran of the Superior Court bench. She previously served in the U.S. Department of Justice as a special assistant to Attorney General William French Smith, and worked in the office of the solicitor general during the Reagan administration.

Kuhl has not received a confirmation hearing, reportedly because Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer will not sign a "blue slip." Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has declined to schedule confirmation hearings for judicial nominees without the approval of both senators from a nominee's home state.

President Clinton's nominees for the Hall and Wiggins seats, attorneys Joseph Duffy Jr. of Honolulu and Barry Goode of San Francisco, never received confirmation hearings. Goode now serves as legal affairs secretary to Gov. Gray Davis.

Los Angeles attorneys John Walter and Percy Anderson were confirmed by the Senate last Thursday to fill two of the six vacancies on the court.

There are no vacancies.

There is one vacancy in newly created Div. Eight. Among those who have been evaluated by the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation and could be appointed to that post are Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Gregory Alarcon, Laurie Zelon and Madeline Flier and Ventura Superior Court Judge Melinda Johnson.

Fourth District

Divs. One and Div. Two each have a vacancy created by SB 1857, which took effect Jan. 1 of last year. Div. Three has a vacancy created by the June 1, 2001 retirement of Justice Thomas Crosby.

Fifth District

There is one vacancy, a newly created position under SB 1857.

Sixth District

Presiding Justice Christopher Cottle retired Aug. 31. Justice Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian is the acting presiding justice.

Seats in other districts are filled.

Gov. Gray Davis named civil litigator Daniel J. Buckley and Deputy Attorney General H. Chester Horn Jr. to the court on April 18. They succeed Judges Stephen O'Neill and Ronald Cappai, both of whom passed away last July.

The appointments followed the naming of three new judges April 12.

Vincent H. Okamoto, a partner in the law firm of Okamoto, Wasserman & Torii, was named to succeed Richard Kalustian, who retired May 8 of last year. Also named were Deputy District Attorney Charles Q. Clay III and Los Angeles Assistant City Attorney Mary Stroble.

Clay will fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Arnold Gold on May 21 of last year, while Stroble's predecessor, Judge Kenneth Chotiner, retired last May 31.

The appointments leave 17 vacancies, the most recent of which occurred with the retirements of Judge J.D. Smith April 4 and Judge James Albracht April 6. Albracht originally slated his retirement for January, but postponed it.

Judge Jerold Krieger died Feb. 15. Judges Michael Pirosh and John Gunn retired in February. Judges David Finkel and Elvira Austin retired in January.

Six judges who retired last year have not been replaced. Kurt J. Lewin departed Aug. 16, Elva Soper Oct. 1, David Perez Oct. 6, Richard Charvat Nov. 5, James Simpson-retired for disability-Dec. 10, and Harold Shabo Dec. 31.

Three judges were elevated last year to the Court of Appeal-Laurence Rubin on Oct. 22, Paul Boland on Nov. 21, and Judith Ashmann-Gerst on Dec. 7.

A vacancy also resulted from the removal of Judge Patrrick Couwenberg Aug. 15..

Further vacancies will occur when Judge Ann Kough retires May 15, and when the court's longest-serving judge, Leslie Light, steps down June 1.

The court is without the services of Judge Aurelio Munoz, who has been assigned to Div. Seven of the Court of Appeal through May 9.

Diana Summerhayes, formerly a deputy district attorney, Superior Court staff attorney William Dodson, and State Bar Court Judge Stanford Reichert were elected commissioners this month. They succed Commissioners Manly Caloff, who retired Feb. 20; Louis Head, who retired March 4; and Michael Price, who retired March 11.

Balloting is underway for three more commissioner positions, vacated by Commissioners Linda Elliott, Jeffrey Castner, and David Stephens, all of whom retired March 31.

The following bills was acted upon by the Legislature in April:

•AB 1812, by Assemblyman Dario Frommer, D-Glendale, which would provide $5.5 million for continued operation and 65 new positions within the Los Angeles County Regional Criminal Information Clearinghouse, provided that federal funds are available for the spending. On April 10, the bill was placed on the Assembly Appropriations Committee's "suspense file."

•AB 1970, by Assemblywoman Barbara Matthews, D-Stockton, which would exempt parole officers, probation officers and prison guards from jury duty. The bill was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 10-1 vote April 2, and was sent to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

•AB 2033, by Assemblyman Robert Pacheco,
R-City of Industry, which would expand the law allowing nonerasable optical image reproduction of a writing to be introduced in court as proof of a writing. The bill passed the Assembly on a 78-0 vote April 15, and was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

•AB 2055, by Assemblyman Robert Pacheco, R-City of Industry, which would eliminate the "work product" protection for lawyers in cases where "the services of a lawyer were sought or obtained to enable or aid anyone to commit or plan to commit a crime or fraud." The bill was amended April 16 to specify that its provisions apply to criminal investigation in any case brought by a public prosecutor. It is pending in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

•AB 2238, by Assemblyman Richard Dickerson, R-Redding, which prohibit any person from knowingly posting personal information about a judge or other public official-or the official's spouse or child-on the Internet knowing that person is an elected or appointed official and intending or threatening imminent physical harm to that individual. The bill was approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee on a 4-0 vote April 23, and was sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

•AB 2263,by Assemblywoman Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, which would require the Judicial Council to study the effectiveness of expanding the Kids' Turn program, which assists children while their parents are in family court obtaining a divorce or legal separation. The bill was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 10-1 vote April 2, and was sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

•AB 2470, by Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, which would allow hearsay evidence of a statement made by a minor under 12 years old who is the subject or victim in certain types of cases. The bill was approved unanimously by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on April 16, was approved unanimously by the Assembly on April 22, and was sent to the Senate.

•AB 2690, by Assemblyman Dennis Cardoza, D-Turlock, which would require each superior court to provide the state's legislative analyst with annual financial statements. The bill was approved April 23 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee on a 10-0 vote, and was sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

•ACR 142, by Assemblyman Robert Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, which would officially name the interchange where State Highway 105 connects with Highway 110 as the "Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange" in honor of the oldest active judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The resolution was adopted by the Senate on a 38-0 vote April 25, and was enrolled the same day.

•SB 1252, by Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, which would create the Office of Native American Affairs within the Attorney General's Office to help foster cooperation among justice system entities. The bill was approved April 23 by the Senate Public Safety Committee on a 4-0 vote, and was sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

•SB 1274, by Sen. Raymond Haynes, R-Riverside, which would provide a tax credit, equal to the value of services rendered, for voluntary services provided by a lawyer or doctor on behalf of any California charitable organization that helps the poor. The bill underwent minor, technical amendments April 1, and is awaiting a vote by the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.

•SB 1325, by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, which would conform California practice with respect to challenging personal jurisdiction to the practice under Rule 12(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The bill was approved by the Senate on a 37-0 vote April 11, and was sent to the Assembly.

•SB 1371, by Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, which would consolidate two court reporting statutes to clarify that a transcript in longhand is to be provided to a nonparty if he is entitled to receive the transcript, whether or not he was entitled to attend the proceeding. The bill was approved by the Senate on a 38-0 vote April 4, and was sent to the Assembly.

•SB 1396, by Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, which would enact the Superior Court Law Enforcement Act of 2002, which among other things would require the sheriff of any county to provide an annual court security plan to the court. The bill was amended April 24 and was referred to the Senate Rules Committee.

•SB 1459, by Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Monterey Park, which, among other things, would make any person who has resigned from the State Bar, regardless of whether charges were pending, guilty of a crime if that person advertises or holds himself out as being entitled to practice law. The bill was amended April 23 and is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

•SB 1559, by Sen. Liz Figueroa, D-Fremont, which would extend indefinitely a statute which allows minors under the age of 13 to testify via closed-circuit television in cases in which the minor is a victim of a sex crime or violent felony. The bill was approved by the Senate on a 36-0 vote April 4, and was sent to the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

•SB 1604, by Sen. Ross Johnson, R-Irvine, which would institute a procedure in which jury commissioners and county elections officials would share information, and election officials would cancel the voter registration of any person who returned a jury summons indicating he or she is not a U.S. citizen. The bill was approved April 15 on a 5-0 vote of the Senate Committee on Elections and Reapportionment, and was sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

•SB 1732, by Sen. Martha Escutia, D-Montebello, which would increase a variety of court fees to provide money for courthouse maintenance and construction. The bill was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 5-1 vote April 22, and was sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

•SB 1897, by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Los Angeles, which would provide that the chief trial counsel of the State Bar shall serve under the Regulation, Admission, and Discipline Oversight Committee of the State Bar Board of Governors. The bill was approved by the Senate on a 38-0 vote April 25, and was sent to the Assembly.