There has been a vacancy on the court since Judge Stephen Trott took senior status Dec. 31, 2004. Another vacancy, in a newly created position, will be created on Jan. 21 of next year.

There is one vacancy on the court.

Orange Superior Court Judge James E. Rogan, a former congressman and Commerce Department official, was nominated Nov. 15, 2006, and renominated in January of last year, to succeed Judge Nora Manella, who resigned to become a justice of this district's Court of Appeal.

Rogan has been unable to secure a confirmation hearing because Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has a "blue slip" policy under which a hearing will be held only if both of the nominee's home state senators approve. Sen. Barbara Boxer, who has previously supported all candidates recommended by a bipartisan advisory committee, opposes Rogan's nomination, in part because of his role as one of the prosecutors at the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton.

There are no vacancies.

Four candidates who won open seats in the June primary were appointed to those seats on July 21, enabling them to begin their terms early. Patricia Nieto, who was a commissioner, succeeded Judge Alan Kalkin, who retired Feb. 19; Deputy District Attorney Jared Moses was named to replace Judge Dzintra Janavs, who retired March 20; Deputy District Attorney Kathleen Blanchard replaced Judge Michael Luros, who retired March 17; and James Bianco, who had been a commissioner, succeeded Judge Daniel S. Pratt, who retired March 2.

Judges Michael R. Hoff and Jack Hunt are retiring today, bringing the total number of judicial vacancies to 23.

Seven judges retired earlier this month-Thomas Townsend July 1, Michael T. Sauer July 6, S. Patricia Spear and Charles Lee July 15, David M. Horwitz July 18, Michael Duggan July 22, and Xenophon F. Lang Jr. July 29.

Previous vacancies resulted from the retirements of Judge Stanley Weisberg April 11 and Judge Wendell Mortimer Jr. April 30; the retirement of Judge Patricia Collins May 6; the death of Judge David Mintz May 12; the retirement of Judge Francis Hourigan III May 15; the appointment of Judge Elena Duarte to the Sacramento Superior Court May 16; the disability retirement of Judge Irving Feffer May 22; the retirement of Judge Barry Taylor June 2, and the elevation of Judges Tricia Bigelow and Frank Jackson to the Court of Appeal June 4.

In addition, four commissioner positions are being converted to judgeships following the retirements of Victor Reichman, Richard Curtis and Albert Garcia March 31 and Gerald Richardson May 31.

Judge Coleman Swart is retiring Sept. 15. Judge Suzanne Person has been on leave following back surgery and will also retire Sept. 15.

Judge Rodney Forneret has been undergoing treatment for cancer, and retired Judge Robert Mackey has been covering Forneret's Inglewood courtroom.

A newly created position on the court was to have been funded as of June 1, but legislation designed to ease the state budget crisis postponed the effective date to June 1 of next year.

Among those whose names have gone to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are former Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn, former Deputy District Attorney Christopher Darden, now in private practice; former Assistant U.S. Attorney David P. Vaughn, now a managing director of the litigation and consulting firm FTI Consulting, Inc.; criminal defense specialist Steven Cron of Santa Monica; Los Angeles Deputy City Attorneys Richard Kraft and Edward J. Perez; state Deputy Attorneys General Steven D. Matthews, E. Eugene Varanini IV, Victoria Wilson, Paul Roadarmel Jr., Robert S. Henry and Kenneth Byrnel Administrative Law Judge Robert Helfand, Deputy District Attorneys Steven I. Katz, Alison S. Matsumoto, Thomas Rubinson, Shellie Samuels, Jeffrey Gootman, Karla Kerlin, Ricardo Ocampo, and Laura Laesecke; Commissioners Rocky L. Crabb, Michael Convey, Victor Greenberg, Amy Pellman, Maren Nelson, Dennis Mulcahy, Ronald Rose, Marilyn Kading Martinez, Mary Lou Katz Byrne, and Loren DiFrank; Referee Steven Berman; U.S. District Court attorney Amy L. Lew; Irvine attorney Raymond Earl Brown; Deputy Federal Public Defender Angel Navarro; Deputy Alternate Public Defender Jerome J. Haig; Los Angeles attorneys Shan K. Thever, John L. Carlton, Adrienne Krikorian, Mark A. Borenstein, Eulanda Matthews and Lawrence P. Brennan Jr.; Century City attorney Howard S. Fredman, Pasadena attorney Warren Gilbert, Glendale attorney Mark J. MacCarley, and Westlake Village attorney Michael Nebenzahl..

Commissioner Kevil Martin is retiring Aug. 4.

Commissioner Martin L. Goetsch is on long-term sick leave.

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

•AB 171, by Assemblyman Jim Beall, D-San Jose, which, as amended, would implement the Court of Appeal decision in In re Estate of Claeyssens, 161 C.A. 4th 465, by eliminating graduated probate filing fees and establishing a uniform fee of $320, payable upon filing of a party's first petition or objections. The bill, which passed the Assembly last year in a different form, passed the Senate July 10 by a vote of 35-0 and was sent to the Assembly for concurrence in amendments.

•AB 360, by Assemblyman Wilmer Carter, D-Rialto, which, as amended, would make changes relating to the juvenile justice system, authorizing counties to establish "restorative" programs. The bill, which passed the Assembly earlier this year, was amended in the Senate July 7 to limit the conditions under which a minor would be eligible for the restorative programs.

•AB 926, by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, which, as amended, would adopt a number of provisions of the Uniform Rules Relating to Discovery of Electronically Stored Information. The bill, which is backed by the Judicial Council, Consumer Attorneys of California and California Defense Counsel, passed the Assembly May 3 by a vote of 70-0. It passed the Senate Judiciary Committee with amendments July 1 by a vote of 5-0, passed the Senate July 10 35-0, and was sent to the Assembly for concurrence in amendments July 15.

•AB 1405, by Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia, which, as amended, would provide for the confidentiality of statements made by juveniles in the course of assessments under Welfare and Institutions Sec. 241.1. The bill, which passed the Assembly last year, was amended in the Senate June 24 to eliminate a provision allowing the minor's counsel to waive confidentiality, passed the Senate June 30 by a vote of 27-8, and was re-referred to the Assembly Judiciary Committee July 3.

•AB 1679, by Evans, which, as amended, would open court files in paternity actions to the parties and their attorneys or agents without the necessity of a court order, although judgments would remain sealed. The bill would, with respect to all others, retain the requirement of a court order, granted only in "exceptional cases," before any part of a court file in a paternity case could be made public. The bill was signed by the governor July 1.

•AB 1820, by Assemblywoman Cathleen Galgiani, D-Stockton, which would revise the formula by which counties are reimbursed for the cost of homicide trials. The bill, which passed the Assembly May 19 by a vote of 76-0, passed the Senate July 3 by a vote of 37-0 with amendments, which were approved by the Assembly July 15 by a vote of 77-0. The bill was sent to the governor.

•AB 1852, by Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Murrieta, which would make it an infraction, rather than a crime, to participate in a sports betting pool, as long as no one is being paid to "book" bets. The bill passed the Assembly May 8 by a vote of 65-4. As amended in the Senate May 23 and June 17, the change would not apply where the amount of the pool is more than $2,500 or where the wager was placed online, and would reduce the maximum fine for the first offense to $250. The bill passed the Senate July 7 by a vote of 36-1 and was sent to the Assembly for concurrence in amendments.

•AB 1873, by Assemblyman Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, which, as originally introduced, would have permitted a party or witness, with the permission of the court, to appear by telephone in small claims court. The bill, which passed the Assembly April 14 by a vote of 67-4, was amended in the Senate July 2 to eliminate the provision for telephone hearings, limiting the scope of the bill to minor changes in the procedure for securing a postponement of a small claims hearing.

•AB 2092, by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre, D-South Gate, which provides that a defendant who has had charges dismissed after successfully completing probation shall not thereby become eligible for a public office from which the person is otherwise disqualified by reason of having been convicted on those charges. The governor signed the bill into law July 10.

•AB 2095, by Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, which would require disclosure of the identities of persons who advise the governor with respect to judicial appointments and require members of the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation to complete two hours of training each year "in the areas of fairness and bias in the judicial appointments process." The bill, which passed the Assembly May 19 by a vote of 46-27, was amended in the Senate July 7.

•AB 2448, by Assemblyman Michael Feuer, D-West Hollywood, which, as amended, would revise standards and procedures for granting fee waivers in civil cases, providing among other things, for a lien against a plaintiff's recovery for waived fees, if the amount of the settlement or judgment exceeds $10,000. The bill, which passed the Assembly May 8 by a vote of 50-25, was amended in the Senate June 16 and approved by a 3-2 vote of the Judiciary Committee June 25.

•AB 3049, by the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which, as amended, would authorize the State Bar to charge dues for next year at the current $400 rate, plus a $10 annual fee that would be authorized through 2013 and would be used solely to acquire a southern California headquarters to which the State Bar would relocate once its current lease expires in 2014. The bill was signed by the governor July 21.

•SB 610, by Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, which provides that a prosecution for a felony offense is commenced when the defendant is arraigned on a complaint that charges the defendant with a felony. The bill, which is slated to become law Jan. 1, was signed by the governor July 10.

•SB 1407, by Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland, which would authorize a major court facilities capital outlay program for the improvement, renovation and replacement of court facilities. Under SB 1407, up to $5 billion in lease revenue bonds would be issued to finance approximately 40 court facilities projects. The projects would be selected by the Judicial Council, and the state bonds would be financed by revenues that would be generated by raising certain civil and criminal fees and assessments. The bill, which passed the Senate as an urgency measure May 29 by a vote of 28-8, was approved by the Assembly Public Safety Committee July 1 by a vote of 5-1 and placed on the Appropriations Committee suspense file July 16.