COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Law Library

DATE:

Oct. 21, 2005

BOARD MEETING DATE:

Nov. 8, 2005

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Board of Law Library Trustees, San Mateo County

SUBJECT:

Filing Fee Increase

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a Resolution to increase the Law Library fee portion distributed from the Uniform Civil Fee from $32.50 to $35.50 commencing January 1, 2006, and from $35.50 to $38.50 commencing January 1, 2007.

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: The request for a fee increase keeps commitments Nos. 2, “provide equal access to educational opportunity” and 9, “responsive, effective and collaborative government.”

Goal(s): The request for a fee increase furthers goals Nos.4, “residents have many educational and training opportunities beyond high school” and 22, “providing that County and local governments effectively communicate, collaborate and develop strategic approaches to issues affecting the entire County.”

This action contributes to these goals by ensuring that the County Law Library has sufficient funding in FY 2005-06 and beyond to remain accessible to the public through the Library’s facility as well as the Library’s website; that Library staff are well trained in library science to ensure outstanding services to Library users; and that the legal publication collection, including those accessed through on-line terminals, meets the needs of the Library’s users, including pro per litigants, law practitioners, researchers and students.

Performance Measure(s):

Measure

FY 2004-05

FY 2005-06

Number of clients that access Law Library services (facility and website)

24,662

25,402

Percent of clients that access Law Library facility:

▪ Attorneys

▪ Non-Attorneys

24.4%

15.9%

24.3%

15.7%

Percent of clients that access Law Library website

59.7%

60.0%

Number of legal information workshops

0

2

The Law Library has experienced a decrease in the number of visitors to the facility while experiencing an increase in web visits. Most notably is the decline in the number of walk-in and telephone users with ready reference questions (i.e. addresses, directions, statistics, informational questions). These types of questions are quickly and easily answered through Internet access and generally from home or office. For this purpose the Law Library website (www.smcll.org) is a good starting point for those seeking general legal information and direction to self-help sites. The core library users remain steady and in some instances has increased with the continued need for legal materials that are not available on the Internet except by subscription to legal publishers databases, proprietary materials, or older legal resources available in print format only. The demand for legal reference assistance has not decreased and the reference staff is better able to serve users as less time is expended answering general information questions.

Legal information workshops will be offered beginning in FY 2005-06 to educate the public on current legal issues. The first workshop to be presented will be: Identity Theft. Announcements were sent to County departments; the Peninsula Library System for distribution to the public libraries; the participating agencies and services of the San Mateo County Self-Represented Litigants Collaborative; the Superior Court of California, San Mateo County; and senior citizens centers. The San Mateo County Bar Association posted notice of the lecture on their website. Public service announcements were sent to in-county publishing newspapers as well. The Superior Court, County Counsel, and Bar Association have been invited to present future lectures.

BACKGROUND:

The San Mateo County Law Library (“Library”) provides free access to legal materials and resources to the public by maintaining a reference collection commensurate with the needs of the community. The main source of income for the Library is a component of the Superior Court Uniform Civil Fee, which accounts for over 95% of the Library’s operating revenue. Pursuant to Business & Professions Code 6322.1, the Board of Supervisors has the authority to increase the fee $3 in any given year.

DISCUSSION:

The Law Library fee portion is currently $32.50. The Library is requesting a $3 increase effective January 1, 2006, and a $3 increase effective January 1, 2007. The California Legislature passed the Uniform Civil Fees and Standard Fee Schedule Act of 2005 (AB 145 and AB 1742, Chapter 75, Stats. 2005). The UCF Act creates a uniform fee schedule for all 58 counties. The Act’s moratorium period ends January 1, 2008 during which time no funds within the uniform fees can change, except increases to the amount distributed to the law library fund in each county. Under UCF, the law library fee component is now inclusive within the total filing fee and not added on. Any increases granted for 2006 and 2007 will not increase the overall filing fees, nor does increasing the law library fee cost the litigant. The State has set-aside funds to offset the cost of law library fee increases. If the Law Library does not increase its fees, then the set-aside funds will remain at the State level.

The last fee increase took effect January 1, 2005, from $29.50 to $32.50. In FY 2004-05 the Library had total revenues of $559,037 and total expenditures of $549,219. As of August 2005, the reserve fund was $74,426. Even if civil filings remain flat in FY 2005-06, the costs of operating the Library are expected to increase 3-5%. As a result, the Library recently canceled the State Code collection, saving approximately $51,582 in annual costs. Further reductions to the collection would jeopardize the Library’s viability as a legal research institution.

The Library’s Board of Trustees and staff believe that without adequate funding the quality of both the library’s collection and services would be further reduced. To address fiscal uncertainty during the Act’s moratorium period and the uncertainty of UCF after January 1, 2008, it becomes prudent to begin preparing for FY 2006-07 and FY 2007-08 by implementing a multi-year fee increase at this time. Not requesting a fee increase could put the Law Library in a disadvantageous position depending on how future increases are authorized and funded.

FISCAL IMPACT:

There is no cost to the County. It is estimated that a $3 increase would generate approximately $50,000 in new revenue to the Law Library on an annual basis.