By Judge Katherine A. Hansen
Throughout our beautiful state of California, each of our counties has its own esteemed civil grand jury. California’s civil grand jury system is a vital part of the judicial branch of the government, though it functions separately from the courts.
Each county’s civil grand jury operates as an independent investigative and reporting body. The grand jury is appointed with the purpose of researching and choosing areas each year to investigate within our local government. Following their private investigations, the grand jury is tasked with providing a public in-depth analysis of their findings, and any recommendations they have.
The goal of the civil grand jury is to improve the operations of local government through investigations and the issuance of written findings and recommendations based on those investigations.
Each county’s grand jury has wide latitude in deciding which topics and entities to review and investigate so that each county may consider their local priorities. Our grand jury reviews the practices and operations of our local agencies, to ensure transparency, accountability, effective use of resources, success in delivery of goals, and alignment with government purposes.
Katherine A. Hansen
Our county grand juries are chosen once per year. Our Santa Cruz County court will soon begin our process of reviewing applications, interviewing select candidates, and then appointing our 2025-2026 civil grand jury.
We hope you will consider applying. Serving on our civil grand jury is a tremendous opportunity to engage with other committed members of our community, to investigate focused issues in our county, and to contribute to the betterment of our county government agencies.
In recent years, our grand juries have conducted dozens of investigations, in to incredibly important areas.
In the 2023-2024 term, our civil grand jury investigated the following agencies or topics: County local roads; county jail healthcare and reentry support; county Behavioral Health Division; county Child Protective Services; CZU fire victims four years later; inclusionary housing in the city of Santa Cruz; county personnel department; and preventing rape and domestic violence in the city of Santa Cruz.
In the 2022-2023 term, our civil grand jury reviewed: Cyber threat preparedness; the future of our local jails; housing our essential workers; the county’s behavioral health crisis; surveillance in the county; county contracts with non-profit organizations; code compliance; and county response to prior grand jury recommendations.
In the 2021-2022 term, our civil grand jury reviewed: Water conservation; Measure G; Measure S; and measures to reduce wildfire risk.
Each of our yearly grand juries have had a significant impact on our community here in Santa Cruz County. We have seen direct results from the exceptional reports and recommendations prepared by past grand juries, and our past grand jurors have seen how each of their individual voices contributed to changes and improvement to our local government. This in turn benefits each resident of our county.
We are incredibly grateful to our past grand jurors and our current grand jurors, serving us in the 2024-2025 grand jury. To each of our past and current grand jurors, thank you very much for your service, and please consider joining us again to contribute to future grand juries.
Our 2025-2026 grand jury will begin July 1, 2025. Our county’s grand jury is comprised of 19 volunteer members and 11 alternates who serve for a one-year term, with an expected time contribution of approximately 20 hours each week, though this varies depending on each investigation and report.
Our most recent grand juries have been meeting and working together in person, as well as remotely, and have successfully used video conferencing and document-sharing programs; we expect this combination of in-person and remote work to continue.
We are looking for collaborative, committed, open-minded, and thoughtful residents of our county who enjoy contributing to the improvement of our local community. Please consider applying.
As the supervising judge of Santa Cruz County’s civil grand jury, I thank you for considering this devotion to a year of public service. Your insight and experience are vital to the success of our local government. Please also encourage others to apply, including your local friends, family, and other community members who you believe could add valuable contributions. n
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For further information, please consider attending an informational meeting at one of our county public libraries:
- April 16 at Felton Library — Open House from 10:30 a.m.- 2 p.m. with informational meeting from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
- April 16 at Scotts Valley Library — Open House from 3:30 – 6 p.m. with informational meeting from 5- 6 p.m.
- April 23 at Watsonville Library — Open House from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. with informational meeting from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.
You can also email [email protected] with questions, or go to our local civil grand jury website for additional information and to review past reports: www.santacruzcountyca.gov/Departments/GrandJury.aspx