There are four vacancies on the court.

Judge Stephen S. Trott took senior status Dec. 31, Judge A. Wallace Tashima took senior status June 30 of last year, Judge James Browning took senior status Sept. 1, 2000, and Judge Thomas G. Nelson took senior status Nov. 14, 2003.

The nomination of William G. Myers III to succeed Nelson was sent to the floor by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 10-8. President Bush resubmitted Myers' nomination on Feb. 14.
Republican senators tried and failed in July of last year to force a floor vote on the nomination of Myers. The vote on the motion to invoke cloture was 53-44, short of the three-fifths required, with both California senators voting against. No agreement concerning Myers was reached when a bipartisan group of senators reached a compromise to avert filibusters on several other nominees.

Myers, who was first nominated on May 15, 2003, is a former solicitor of the Department of the Interior and now practices law in Boise, Idaho. He has drawn opposition from native American activists and environmental groups.

His supporters say he holds mainstream, balanced views on environmental and other issues.

U.S. Attorney Debra W. Yang of the Central District of California has reportedly been under consideration for appointment to the court.

Judge Robert J. Timlin took senior status Feb. 1. Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. took senior status April 22, and Judge Dickran M. Tevrizian did so Aug. 5.

Judge Gary Taylor took senior status Dec. 8 of last year and retired to become a private judge with JAMS on June 30.

A vacancy exits as a result of Justice Janice Rogers Brown leaving June 30 to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to which she was confirmed June 8.

Presiding Justice Laurence Kay of Div. Four is retring today.

Justice Michael Nott retired from Div. Two April 1. Among those whose names have been sent to the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible successors are U.S. District Judge Nora Manella of the Central District of California and Los Angeles Superior Court Judges Joanne O'Donnell, James Chalfant, Stephen Suzukawa, Emilie Elias, Aurelio Munoz, Owen Lee Kwong, Peter Lichtman, Carl West, Ronald Coen, Frank Y. Jackson, William Highberger and Fumiko Wasserman.

Fourth District

Three newly appointed judges were sworn in this month- Lawrence Cho, formerly an assistant U.S. attorney, on Aug. 5; Gail Ruderman Feuer, a former environmental lawyer, on Aug. 22; and Daniel Feldstern, previously a deputy district attorney on Aug. 29.

Cho was named in June to succeed Judge Alan Buckner, who died Dec. 12. Feuer succeeds Judge Dean Farrar, who retired Feb. 18. Feldstern's predecessor, Judge David Perkins, also retired Feb. 18.

There are seven vacancies, the most recent resulting from the Aug. 1 retirement of Judge Phillip Argento and the Aug. 7 retirement of Judge Gregory O'Brien.

Earlier vacancies resulted from the retirements of Judge Meredith Taylor May 11, Judge Lorna Parnell May 4, and Judge Judith Abrams April 30; Judge Ronni B. MacLaren's resignation March 12 to accept appointment to the Alameda Superior Court, to which she was named Feb. 23; and Judge Francis Rothschild's elevation to the Court of Appeal April 4.

Judge Charles Lee is on yearlong sabbatical in China.

Among those whose names have gone to the State Bar Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation as possible appointees to the court are Deputy District Attorney Richard M. Goul, Commissioners Dennis Mulcahy, Harvey Silberman, Christina Hill and Loren DiFrank, Referee Steven Berman, Los Angeles attorney Amy L. Lew, Irvine attorney Raymond Earl Brown, Century City attorney Howard S. Fredman.

Graciela Freixes, Susan K. Weiss, and Alan H. Friedenthal were sworn in as commissioners this month, filling vacancies created by the appointments of Bellinger and Ito as judges, and by the June 14 death of Commissioner Preciliano Recendez.

Attorneys David Cowan and Tamila Ipema were elected this month to fill the seats previously held by Commissioners Robert Zakon, who retired July 11, and Patricia G. Schwartz, who retired July 18.

Results are expected Friday in balloting to fill the commissioner seats previously held by Stuart Rice and Ross Klein, who were appointed judges last month.

•AB 27, by Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, which, as amended, would require that the costs of a venue change be borne by the transferring court, or-for expenses not defined as court operations-by the transferring county. The bill, which passed the Assembly in May, passed the Senate Aug. 22 by a vote of 40-0 and was sent to the Assembly for concurrence in Senate amendments.

•AB 176, by Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, which as amended would provide that the classification of a Los Angeles Superior Court law clerk be changed from temporary to regular employee after 180 days of employment. The bill, which passed the Assembly May 31 by a vote of 46-33, passed the Senate Aug. 22 by a vote of 22-13 and was sent to the governor.

•AB 182, by Assemblyman John J. Benoit, R-Riverside, which would make a technical change in the form of a search warrant. The bill, which passed the Assembly in March, passed the Senate Aug. 18 by a vote of 29-1 and was sent to the governor.

•AB 415, by Assemblyman Tom Harman, R-Huntington Beach, which, as amended, would extend to Jan. 1, 2007 the sunset date of legislation allowing non-California attorneys to appear in arbitration proceedings under certain circumstances. The bill, which passed the Assembly May 19 by a vote of 74-0, was amended in the Senate Aug. 18 and returned to the Judiciary Commttee, which approved it Aug. 24 by a vote of 7-0. .

•AB 1322, by Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, D-Santa Rosa, which would amend the requirement that a judge who has had discussions with an ADR provider regarding potential employment recuse himself or herself, absent waiver, from ADR-related matters. The bill, as amended in the Assembly, would provide that this is only grounds for disqualification if the discussions were initiated by the judge or involved a substantive offer of employment, and would limit disqualification to matters involving the ADR provider with which the discussions occurred. The bill passed the Assembly in April by a vote of 74-0, and, as amended in the Senate Aug. 18, would take effect immediately as an urgency measure.

•AB 1529, by Assemblyman David Jones, D-Sacramento, which, as amended, would authorize the State Bar to impose dues for 2006 and 2007, increase active member dues by $5, increase the assessment for the Client Security Fund by $5, substantially increase dues for inactive members, and require members with income of more than $40,000 annually from all sources to pay the full amount of dues even if none of that income was derived from the practice of law. The bill, which passed the Assembly May 16 by a vote of 49-25, passed the Senate Aug. 25 by a vote of 25-11 and was sent to the governor.

•SB 56, by Sen. Joseph Dunn, D-Garden Grove, which, as amended, would authorize creation-subject to appropriations-of an unspecified number of new superior court judgeships in each of the next three years, plus the conversion of an unspecified number of subordinate judicial officer positions to judgeships, according to uniform criteria established by the Judicial Council. The bill was held by the Assembly Appropriations Committee Aug. 25, apparently killing it for this year.

•SB 111, by Sen. Elaine Alquist, D-San Jose, which as amended would permit prosecution of sex crimes against minors at any time prior to the victim's 28th birthday, replacing the current 10-year statute of limitations as well as the law permitting otherwise time-barred prosecutions to be brought, in some circumstances, up to one year after a police report is filed. The bill, which passed the Senate June 1 by a vote of 36-0, was amended in the Assembly Aug. 25. Prior to the amendment, the bill would have permitted prosecution up until the minor's 30th birthday.

•SB 442, by Sen. Joseph Simitian, D-Pittsburg, which as amended would increase the jurisdictional limit of the small claims court from $5,000 to $7,500 in most cases, would require attorneys serving as temporary small claims judges to take a course given by the courts, and which passed the Senate May 31 by a vote of 24-14, was amended in the Assembly Aug. 15 and again Aug. 25. One amendment eliminated a provision that would have increased the filing fee for claims over $5,000; a portion of the increase would have gone to law libraries.

•SB 815, by Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, which as amended would allow a plaintiff, in lieu of service by publication, to serve the defendant's liability insurer if the defendant could not be personally served despite due diligence, provided that a plaintiff who serves the defendant in this manner waives any recovery in excess of policy limits. The bill, which passed the Senate June 1 by a vote of 25-15, was scheduled to be voted on yesterday in the Assembly.