CA SB850

Requires the Judicial Council to develop a court reminder program allowing county courts to send text messages to defendants notifying them of scheduled court appearances at no cost to the courts.

Mandates each law enforcement agency collect cell phone numbers from persons accused of criminal offenses upon citation or booking and transmit them to the county court in their jurisdiction.

Requires text message reminders to be sent at least one week prior, three days prior, and on the day of hearing, with reminders available in the state's threshold languages and mandatory reminders for arraignments.

Requires all county courts to participate in the program and submit monthly data to the Judicial Council, including number of defendants with text-capable devices, reminders sent, and failure-to-appear rates; Judicial Council must report this data to the Legislature annually starting July 1, 2025.

Establishes an implementation oversight committee of 5-10 members to advise on system design, research best practices, and identify barriers to implementation; restricts use of collected contact information to court reminders without defendant consent.