AMENDMENTS TO THE CALIFORNIA RULES OF COURT Adopted by the Judicial Council on July 20, 2018, effective July 23, 2018 Rule 10.502. Judicial sabbatical pilot program .......................................................... 6 1 2

6 Rule 10.502. Judicial sabbatical pilot program 1 2 (

a) Objective 3 4 Sabbatical leave is a privilege available to jurists by statute. The objective of 5 sabbatical leave is to facilitate study, teaching, research, or another activity that will 6 benefit the administration of justice and enhance judges’ performance of their 7 duties. 8 9 (Subd (

a) amended effective January 23, 2018) 10 11 (

b) Eligibility 12 13

(1) A judge or justice is eligible to apply for a paid sabbatical under Government 14 Code

section 77213 if: 15 16 (

A) He or she has served for at least seven years as a California judicial 17 officer, including service as a subordinate judicial officer; 18 19 (

B) He or she has not taken a sabbatical within seven years of the date of 20 the proposed sabbatical; and 21 22 (

C) He or she agrees to continue to serve as a judicial officer for at least 23 three years after the sabbatical. 24 25

(2) Any judge is eligible to apply for an unpaid sabbatical under Government 26 Code

section 68554. 27 28 (Subd (

b) amended effective July 23, 2018) 29 30 (

c) Application 31 32

(1) An eligible judge may apply for a sabbatical by submitting a sabbatical 33 proposal to the Administrative Director of the Courts with a copy to the 34 presiding judge or justice. 35 36

(2) The sabbatical proposal must include: 37 38 (

A) The judge's certification that he or she meets the eligibility 39 requirements established in (b); 40 41 (

B) The beginning and ending dates of the proposed sabbatical; 42 43

7 (CB) A description of the sabbatical project, including an explanation of how 1 the sabbatical will benefit the administration of justice and the judge’s 2 performance of his or her duties; and 3 4 (DC) A statement from the presiding judge or justice of the affected court, 5 indicating approval or disapproval of the sabbatical request and the 6 reasons for such approval or disapproval, forwarded to the Judicial 7 Sabbatical Review Executive and Planning Committee with a copy to 8 the judge. 9 10 (Subd (

c) amended effective July 23, 2018; previously amended effective January 1, 2007 11 and January 1, 2016.) 12 13 (

d) Judicial Sabbatical Review Committee Review of applications 14 15 A Judicial Sabbatical Review The Executive and Planning Committee will be 16 appointed to make recommendations to the Judicial Council regarding sabbatical 17 requests, with support from the council’s human resources staff. 18 19

(1) Membership 20 21 The committee must include at least one member from each of the following 22 groups: 23 24 (

A) Administrative Presiding Justices Advisory Committee; 25 26 (

B) Trial Court Presiding Judges Advisory Committee; 27 28 (

C) Court Executives Advisory Committee; 29 30 (

D) Governing Committee of the Center for Judicial Education and 31 Research; 32 33 (

E) Judicial Service Advisory Committee; and 34 35 (

F) California Judges Association (liaison). 36 37

(2) Staffing 38 39 The committee will be staffed by the Human Resources Division of the 40 Administrative Office of the Courts and may elect its chair and vice-chair. 41 42

8 (Subd (

d) amended effective January 23, 2018; previously amended effective January 1, 1 2007 and January 1, 2016.) 2 3 (

e) Evaluation 4 5

(1) The Administrative Director of the Courts must forward all sabbatical 6 requests that comply with (

c) to the Judicial Sabbatical Review Executive and 7 Planning Committee. 8 9

(2) The Judicial Sabbatical Review Executive and Planning Committee must 10 recommend granting or denying the sabbatical request after it considers the 11 following factors: 12 13 (

A) Whether the sabbatical will benefit the administration of justice in 14 California and the judge’s performance of his or her duties; and 15 16 (

B) Whether the sabbatical leave will be detrimental to the affected court. 17 18

(3) The Judicial Sabbatical Review Committee may recommend an unpaid 19 sabbatical if there is insufficient funding for a paid sabbatical. 20 21 (Subd (

e) amend effective July 23, 2018; previously amended effective January 1, 2016.) 22 23 (

f) Length 24 25

(1) A paid sabbatical taken under Government Code

section 77213 may not 26 exceed 120 calendar days. A judge may be allowed to add unpaid sabbatical 27 time onto the end of a paid sabbatical if the purpose of the unpaid sabbatical 28 is substantially similar to the work of the paid sabbatical. 29 30

(2) An unpaid judicial sabbatical taken under Government Code

section 68554 31 may not exceed one year. 32 33 (Subd (

f) amended effective July 23, 2018) 34 35 (

g) Ethics and compensation 36 37 A judge on unpaid sabbatical leave is subject to the California Code of Judicial 38 Ethics and, while on a paid sabbatical, must not accept may receive compensation 39 and reimbursement for expenses for activities performed during that sabbatical 40 leave but may receive reimbursement for the expenses as provided in canon 4H(2) 41 of the Code of Judicial Ethics. 42 43

9 (Subd (

g) amended effective July 23, 2018) 1 2 (

h) Judge’s report 3 4 On completion of a sabbatical leave, the judge must report in writing to the Judicial 5 Council on how the leave benefited the administration of justice in California and 6 on its effect on his or her official duties as a judicial officer. 7 8 (i)(

h) Retirement and benefits 9 10

(1) A judge on a paid sabbatical leave under Government Code

section 77213 11 continues to receive all the benefits of office and accrues service credit 12 toward retirement. 13 14

(2) A judge on unpaid sabbatical leave under Government Code

section 68554 15 receives no compensation, and the period of absence does not count as 16 service toward retirement. The leave does not affect the term of office. 17 18 (Subd (

h) amended and relettered effective July 23, 2018; adopted as subd (

i) effective 19 January 1, 2007.) 20 21 (h)(

i) Judge’s report 22 23 On completion of a sabbatical leave, the judge must report in writing to the Judicial 24 Council on how the leave benefited the administration of justice in California and on its 25 effect on his or her official duties as a judicial officer. 26 27 (Subd (

i) amended and relettered effective July 23, 2018; adopted as subd (

h) effective 28 January 1, 2007.) 29 30 (

j) Judicial assignment replacement 31 32 Funds must be made available from the Judicial Administration Efficiency and 33 Modernization Fund to allocate additional assigned judges to those courts whose 34 judges' requests for paid sabbaticals are approved. 35 36 Rule 10.502 amended effective July 23, 2018; adopted as rule 6.151 effective January 1, 2003; 37 previously amended and renumbered as rule 10.502 effective January 1, 2007; previously 38 amended effective January 1, 2016. 39 get a blank style template. 40