Judicial Council votes to end its ends zero bail emergency policy

The Judicial Council voted to end it's zero bail policy on Wednesday. But Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye opted not to hold a council vote on ending emergency moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures.

The decision was announced prior to a Council meeting.

The zero-bail schedule was one of 11 emergency measures the council adopted at on April 6. Other policies approved at that meeting made allowances for remote hearings and extended time-frames associated with civil trials and restraining orders.

The bail order waived all payments from defendants for release on most misdemeanors and lower-level felonies. It was intended to reduce populations in county jails in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections in close quarters. A June 8 press release from the Judicial Council said it "helped California jails reduce population by more than 20,000 people to 'flatten the curve'" while "crime rates stayed at historic lows."

But the rules relating to real estate have proven particularly controversial. Several conservative and property owner groups have pushed for the end of policies barring most evictions and foreclosures, saying they unfairly burden owners and banks. Legal aid groups have pushed to extend the policies, pointing to figures showing most renters and mortgage holders are not taking advantage of them yet.

"I believe the executive and legislative branches will need more time to sort through various policy proposals," Cantil-Sakauye said in a pre-written statement. "As I mentioned in April when we first adopted temporary emergency rules and took other actions, we are at a point with the pandemic with no guidance in history, law or precedent."

The emergency orders are scheduled to expired in the coming weeks, with the bail order to end June 20 and the eviction order to phase out Aug. 3. But the changing nature of the pandemic has made scheduling difficult.

The initial wave of the virus did not hit the state as hard as some feared, but cases are now growing as various lock-down orders are eased, some county health officials say.

-- Malcolm Maclachlan