The Senate Judiciary Committee on April 7 approved President Obama’s renomination of UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu to fill an open position on the court. The vote, strictly along party lines, was 10-8.

Liu was renominated Jan. 5, his previous nomination having been returned to the president when the Senate adjourned Dec. 22. Liu was unanimously rated “exceptionally well qualified” by the American Bar Association’s evaluating committee, but Republicans object that he is too liberal.

There are two other vacant seats, previously held by Judge Stephen Trott, who took senior status in 2004, and Judge Andrew Kleinfeld, who took senior status June 12 of last year. Judge Mary M. Schroeder is taking senior status Jan 1.

Judge John Kronstadt, formerly of the Los Angeles Superior Court, was confirmed April 12 by a 96-0 vote of the U.S. Senate and sworn in April 25. The president renominated Kronstadt Jan. 5 to succeed Judge Florence-Marie Cooper, who died Jan. 15 of last year.

Another vacancy remains because Judge Stephen G. Larson resigned Nov. 2, 2009. to join the law firm of Girardi | Keese.

Judge A. Howard Matz is scheduled to take senior status July 11.

Michael Wilner, previously an assistant U.S. attorney, was appointed a magistrate judge April 1, succeeding Judge Carolyn Turchin, who retired in May of last year. Sheri Pym, also previously an assistant U.S. attorney, was appointed a magistrate judge on April 15, succeeding Rosalyn M. Chapman, who retired last November.

Bankruptcy Judge Sandra R. Klein took office April 22, suceeding Judge Kathleen H. Thompson, who retired in January but has been serving on recall..

Justice Carlos Moreno retired Feb. 28..

Judge Dennis Aichroth retired Feb. 17 and Judge Conrad Aragon Feb. 18. Judge Jerry E. Johnson retired March 3, while Judge Marlene Kristovich retired March 31. Judge John Kronstadt joined the U.S. District Court on April 25.

Judge Andrew Kauffman sat for the last time April 14 and will retire May 15 to become a private judge, while Judge William Birney will retire July 7.

Judge Harvey Silberman is disqualified while under felony indictment.

Commissioner Patrick Larkin is on medical leave.

There are commissioner vacancies as a result of the judicial appointments of Michael Convey on June 30 of last year and of Lia Martin and Michele Flurer Dec. 6.

Commissioner Ralph Amado died Oct. 17. Commissioner Martin Goetsch retired March 31 and Commissioner Cathrin DeVoe April 26.

Commissioner Martin Green is retiring June 25.

The following bills of interest to the legal community were acted upon in April:

•AB 26, by Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, which would have employed a variety of criminal and civil measures to deal with illegal immigration, similar to Arizona SB 1070, major portions of which the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held this month to likely be unconstitutional in several respects.. The bill failed in the Judiciary Committee April 5 by a vote of 7-3.

•AB 60, by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Murrieta, which, as amended, would add felony battery on certain sworn officers--including police, firefighters, and custodial officers--to the list of "serious felonies" for purposes of the Three-Strikes Law and other enhancement statutes. The bill was amended in the Assembly April 5 and re-referred to the Committee on Public Safety, which rejected it on April 12 by a vote of 4-3.

•AB 73, by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, D-West Hollywood, which, as amended March 31, would require the Judicial Council--contingent upon the securing of private funding--to establish a four-year pilot project in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and in a to-be-determined county, to create a presumption that juvenile court hearings in juvenile dependency cases are open to the public. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee April 4 by a vote of 10-0 and re-referred to the Committee on Human Services.

•AB 126, by Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, which would require the governor to disclose the names of all persons outside his administration whom he has consulted with respect to potential judicial appointments, and would require members of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation to undergo two hours of annual anti-bias training. The bill was amended in the Assembly April 4 and re-referred to the Judiciary Committee.

•AB 141, by Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes, D-Sylmar, which would specifically mandate that jurors be instructed that the ban on communications about a trial extends to text messaging and other forms of electronic communication. The bill passed the Appropriations Committee April 6 by a vote of 16-0, passed the Assembly April 14 by a vote of 60-0, and was sent to the Senate.

•AB 144, by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, which would make it a crime to openly carry an unloaded firearm, subject to exceptions. The bill was approved by the Public Safety Committee April 12 by a vote of 5-2.

•AB 173, by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, which would extend the statute of limitations for suits to enforce insurance policies on the lives of victims of the Armenian Genocide. The bill passed the Assembly April 14 by a vote of 61-0 and was sent to the Senate.

•AB 190, by Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski, D-Fremont, which would impose an additional $3 assessment on certain traffic violators to fund spinal cord research. The bill was amended March 15 to permit trial courts to deduct their administrative costs before forwarding the collected amounts forward to the state, and then re-referred to the Committee on Public Safety, where a hearing scheduled for April 5 was cancelled at the author’s request.

•AB 193, by Assemblyman Steve Knight, R-Palmdale, which, as amended, would bar the use of a single-family residence at which a registered sex offender resides as a polling place. The bill was approved by the Appropriations Committee April 25 by a vote of 15-0 and was amended in the Assembly April 26.

•AB 238, by Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, D-El Dorado Hills, which would codify the procedure for claiming privilege in discovery disputes. As amended April 4, the bill provides that the party claiming privilege may be required to provide “to provide sufficient factual information in its response for other parties to evaluate the merits of that claim, including, if necessary, a privilege log.” As originally proposed, the bill would have allowed the opposing party to demand a privilege log in every instance. The bill passed the Judiciary Committee in its amended form April 12 by a vote of 9-0 and passed the Assembly April 25 by a vote of 68-0.

•AB 265, by Ammiano, which, as originally introduced, would have required a residential landlord to wait 14 days, rather than the current three, before demanding that a tenant who has defaulted on rent either pay or quit the premises. As amended April 6, the bill retains the three-day notice rule, but allows a tenant to avoid eviction by paying all past and current rent plus court costs, including up to $350 in attorney fees. An April 12 hearing was postponed by the Judiciary Committee.

•AB 362, by Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, which would increase the number of signatures required to authorize a write-in challenge to an otherwise unopposed incumbent Superior Court judge. The bill passed the Assembly April 11 by a vote of 53-21 and was sent to the Senate, where it was referred to the Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments.

•AB 520, by Ammiano, which would provide that an upper term sentence may not be imposed under the Determinate Sentencing Law, except on the basis of facts in aggravation found by the trier of fact. A scheduled hearing was cancelled by the Committee on Public Safety April 12.

•AB 559, by Assemblywoman Sandre Swanson, D-Oakland, which, as amended April 4, would provide that recovery of costs by a prevailing plaintiff is mandatory, rather than discretionary, where the plaintiff recovers less than the general jurisdiction threshold, in an action under the Fair Employment and Housing Act. The bill passed the Judiciary Committee April 12 by a vote of 7-2.

•AB 618, by Assemblyman Warrant Furutani, D-Long Beach, dealing with court interpreters. The bill was re-referred to the Judiciary Committee April 4.

•AB 622, by Assemblyman Dan Dickinson, D-Sacramento, which would amend civil grand jury procedures. As amended March 30, the bill would require that all civil grand jury proceedings involving sworn testimony be open to the public unless the superior court orders that testimony be heard in closed session. Such an order would have to be based on a finding that the testimony would involve confidential matters. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee April 4 by a vote of 6-4 and re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations.

•AB 625, by Ammiano, which, as amended, would establish a tiered system of sex offender registration, in which some offenders would have to register for 10 years after release from custody, some for 20 years, and others for life. The bill was amended March 31 and re-referred to the Public Safety Committee, where an April 26 hearing was canceled at the author’s request.

•AB 973, by Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, which would require that every trial court hold a public hearing prior to submitting its annual budget request to the Judicial Council. The bill was amended April 7, adding further details to the hearing requirement, and was re-referred to the Judiciary Committee, which approved it April 12 by a vote of 7-2.

•AB 1062,, by Dickinson, which would make orders dismissing or denying petitions to compel arbitration non-appealable. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee April 12 by a vote of 6-3.

•AB 1067, by Huber, which would provide that an order denying reconsideration is not appealable. As amended April 25, the bill would clarify that while such an order is not “separately” appealable, the denial of reconsideration is reviewable upon appeal from the underlying order.

•AB 1089, by Assemblyman Luis Alejo, D-Salinas, which, as amended March 25, would authorize a bilingual judge, notwithstanding any other law, to provide an unofficial translation of preliminary court procedures that do not bear on any substantive right of a party when a court interpreter is not immediately available. A Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for April 26 was postponed by the committee.

•AB 1108, by Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Redding, which, as amended, would mandate an award of attorney fees to a prevailing defendant in an action under the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. The bill failed in the Judiciary Committee April 5 by a vote of 7-3.

•AB 1133, by Assemblyman Jim Silva, R-Huntington Beach, which would require recusal of a civil grand juror if such person was employed, within the preceding three years, by the agency that is the subject of an investigation. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee April 12 by a vote of 9-0.

•AB 1208, by Assemblyman Charles Calderon, D-Industry, which would guarantee the administrative and judicial autonomy of the trial courts. The bill was referred to the Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review April 7, then re-referred April 25 to the Judiciary Committee, where a hearing is scheduled for May 3.

•SB 5, by Sen. Tom Harman, R-Costa Mesa, which, as amended April 12, would provide that the proponent of an initiative measure may intervene as a matter of right to defend its constitutionality. As originally introduced, the bill would have required the attorney general to defend the constitutionality of initiative measures, but that requirement has been deleted. The bill was re-referred to the Judiciary Committee following its amendment by the Senate and was set for hearing April 26.

•SB 54, by former Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, which would permit a sex offender subject to Jessica’s Law, which prohibits such offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a park or school, to petition for a waiver of the prohibition. As amended April 12, the bill would require a showing that a substantial number of registered sex offenders are unable to comply due to “a pervasive lack of compliant housing in the county.”

•SB 129, by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, which would make it unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a qualified medical marijuana patient based on such person’s qualified patient status or a positive drug test, unless the employee uses the drug on the employer’s premises or the employment is “safety-sensitive.” The Judiciary Committee approved the bill April 5 by a vote of 3-2.

•SB 182, by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, which, would require the governor to collect and release data on the sexual orientation and gender identity of judicial applicants, in addition to the data on race and gender that must be released under current law. As amended, the bill would require a departing governor to provide the data for the governor’s last year in office to his or her successor, and would require that any report indicate the number of applicants who declined to respond. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee April 5 by a vote of 3-2, was amended in the Senate April 12, and was re-referred to the Appropriations Committee, where it was set for hearing May 2.

•SB 326, by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, which would require the Judicial Council to enact a rule providing for newly filed or lodged court records to be made available for public inspection at the courthouse no later than the end of the day on which those records are received by the court. The bill was amended April 25, limiting its effect to “case-initiating” documents in civil and criminal courts, and re-referred to the Judiciary Committee.

•SB 462, by Sen. Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo, which, as amended, would establish requirements for the establishment of ADR programs as a means of reducing litigation fees incurred by school districts, special education local plan areas, and parents concerning special education disagreements. The bill was amended in the Senate April 25 and re-referred to the Education Committee, which approved it April 27 by a vote of 9-0.

•SB 503, by Sen. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, which would specify that the option of a judge who belongs to the Judges Retirement System II, and who previously served as a subordinate judicial officer, to purchase retirement credits for the period of SJO service is limited to a one-time election. The bill passed the Senate Public Employment and Retirement Committee April 11 by a vote of 5-0 and was re-referred to the Appropriations Committee.

•SB 651, by Leno, which would eliminate the “common residence” requirement for domestic partnerships. The bill was amended March 31 and re-referred to the Judiciary Committee April 7.

•SB 671, by Sen. Curren D. Price, D-Inglewood, relating to continuing education requirements for shorthand reporters. The bill was amended April 14 to authorize the Court Reporters Board to impose new fees to cover the costs of enforcing continuing education requirements, and was then re-referred to the Committee on Business, Professions and Employment Development.

•SB 848, by Sen. Bill Emmerson, R-Riverside, which would separate the Fourth District Court of Appeal’s Div. Two into a new appellate district. The bill was set for hearing May 3.

•SB 883, by Sen. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana which would, in enforcement actions brought by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, permit a defense of good faith compliance with or reliance upon an applicable employment statute or regulation. The bill was referred to the Judiciary and Labor and Industrial Relations Committees, where a hearing scheduled for April 13 was canceled at the request of author.

•SB 927, by Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Palmdale, which would authorize certain persons who are participating in criminal or juvenile proceedings involving a sibling of a dependent child to inspect the case file. The bill was amended April 7, narrowing the scope of permissible access. A Committee on Public Safety hearing scheduled for April 26 was cancelled at the request of the author, and the bill was re-referred to the Judiciary Committee.

•SCR 38, by Price, honoring the service of California’s African-American judges on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Edwin Jefferson’s appointment as the first black Court of Appeal justice. The resolution was agreed to by the Senate April 25 by a vote of 38-0.