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We provide the general public with information and educational materials and activities on the California Civil Grand Jury system that will help increase public awareness of the valuable role the civil grand jury plays in our democratic system of government.
We provide comprehensive training on all subjects relative to empaneled civil grand juries available to all 58 counties within California including civil grand jury training as well as specific workshops on key topics relevant to civil grand jury service.
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Civil Grand Jury Resources
Here you can find sample documents, templates, examples of well-written reports, links to local government resources,
and FAQs.
Our Annual Conference
Every year in the fall, CGJA holds an Annual Conference and Membership Meeting to provide an opportunity for members and civil grand jurors to meet and discuss experiences and hear from speakers and panels on relevant topics of interest.
Chapter Resources
Includes chapter resource documents, suggested activities for chapters, guidance for forming a chapter along with templates.
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Grand Jurors' Journal
This bimonthly journal is a major source of information about the civil grand jury system and recent updates on CGJA activities of interest to our members.
CGJA and California's Civil Grand Jury System
Learn about CGJA and details about California’s unique system of civil grand juries.
Our Awards
Annual awards recognizing civil grand jury reporting and media coverage along with the Angelo Rolando Service Award.
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an effective civil grand juror
CGJA conducts training seminars for civil grand jurors and alternates on their various civil functions. These seminars include twelve full hours of presentations and over 300 pages of training materials. Experienced and highly qualified trainers who have served as civil grand jurors or grand jury legal advisors present these programs locally, throughout the state as “onsite” seminars or via Zoom if Covid-19 restrictions exist.
We also conduct Foreperson and Pro Tem Workshops, Legal Advisors’ Workshops, and Report Writing Workshops.
Stay Updated with Civil Grand Jury News
Toulumne County Grand Jury 2025-2026 Report-Media Coverage
mymotherlode.com/news/local/10954762/final-tuolumne-county-grand-jury-reports-focus-on-public-tru...
myMotherLode.com Your Gateway to California’s Gold Country
Final Tuolumne County Grand Jury Reports Focus On Public Trust, CDD
By B.J. Hansen Published Jun 26, 2026 12:04 pm
Grand Jury Cover
Sonora, CA — The final two Tuolumne County Grand Jury reports of the current cycle were publicly released today.
The Grand Jury serves as a government watchdog and reviews issues and complaints related to local government, and makes recommendations. The term of the current Grand Jury expires at the end of the month, and five reports were completed.
We noted earlier that the first report focused on correctional facilities, and the second and third were in relation to past responses by county leaders to last year’s reports and the payroll practices of the Twain Harte Fire District.
The fourth installment is a 26-page report entitled, Governance Practices Impacting Public Trust. A big focus was on complaints made surrounding Tuolumne County District One Supervisor Mike Holland. A main aspect was that Holland did not recuse himself when the county debated a mobile home rent control ordinance (he owns spaces within Hill Haven and rents out a mobile home there). It also examines whether it is ok for him to continue to serve on both the board of supervisors and the Sonora High Board of Trustees simultaneously.
Regarding the conflict of interest matter, the Grand Jury made various recommendations, including that all publicly elected officials complete training on the Political Reform Act of 1974, the Levine Act, and the Fair Political Practices Commission.
Related to the issue of serving as both a county supervisor and school board member, the Grand Jury’s investigation stated it “creates the appearance and opportunities for a clash of duties,” and recommended that the County Counsel submit the issue to the California Attorney General’s Office for further guidance.
The Grand Jury also highlighted challenges in doing the investigation, including Supervisor Holland requesting that two members of the jury be removed due to bias. There was also a difficulty in finding specifics about past meetings (all accessible via video). In response, a recommendation was to have all of the board meetings transcribed, potentially using AI software. There were also concerns about a policy where county emails are automatically deleted after 90 days.
Click here to view the full 26-page report.
The fifth and final report that the Grand Jury will release this cycle was 80 pages and entitled Behind the Devastation: Tuolumne County Community Development Department. The report highlighted the handling of the departure of the Community Development Director, staffing losses, declining morale, and moving the CDD forward. It partially focused on Supervisor Holland, again, and a property he owns at 17411 High School Road. That issue was mentioned in past news articles (click here to find).
The report made 19 findings with various related recommendations. Find the 80-page report here. Written by BJ Hansen.
Final Tuolumne County Grand Jury Reports Focus On Public Trust, CDD
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lookout.co/civil-grand-jury-faults-santa-cruz-transportation-commission-for-decades-of-flawed-rai...
Civil grand jury faults Santa Cruz transportation commission for decades of flawed rail planning
Lookout Santa Cruz, by Hillary Ojeda, July 1, 2026
The rail line running under the trestle near the Santa Cruz Wharf. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz
A new civil grand jury report faults the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission for decades of flawed planning on the coastal rail corridor. It says officials advanced proposals without adequately accounting for engineering, legal and financial realities, and recommends that the commission adopt stronger project evaluation and strategic planning processes.
For decades, the debate over Santa Cruz County’s coastal rail line has been framed as a bitter public divide. But a new civil grand jury report turns the blame squarely on the county’s transportation commission, arguing that officials spent years pushing unviable options because they failed to accurately evaluate costs and engineering challenges.
“[K]ey policy choices were not adequately grounded in a realistic assessment of the corridor’s physical constraints, engineering requirements, legal limitations, and financial costs,” the 28-page report reads. “As a result, the [Regional Transportation Commission] and the public have spent years debating options that, in some cases, were not viable given financial and engineering realities.”
The RTC has long tried to find a way to best use the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, a 32-mile coastal rail system that runs from Davenport to Pajaro Junction in Monterey County.
The grand jury’s report comes days after it released five reports on issues including the county’s behavioral health system and its housing crisis. The grand jury is a state-mandated, volunteer-led government watchdog composed of 19 members who carry out annual investigations on regional issues.
As part of its report on the rail corridor, the grand jury laid out its findings and issued a list of eight recommendations. It recommends that the transportation commission develop a framework for future major capital projects that would direct when projects can advance only after obtaining a certain level of confidence in cost estimates and timelines.
The grand jury further recommends that the RTC adopt a comprehensive strategic planning framework to lay out decision-making criteria for transportation investments, policy decisions and guidance for navigating conflicts when faced with competing transportation objectives.
Additionally, it recommends creating a plan to improve public communication to reduce misinformation, as well as exploring options to change the makeup of the board’s 12 members to “avoid deadlocks and delays.”
The RTC is made up of the five members of the county board of supervisors, one representative from each of the county’s four cities and three members from Santa Cruz Metro.
“This structure reflects county, city, and metro interests, but also creates a governing body with frequent turnover and competing priorities,” according to the report. “Personal and political considerations can result in delayed decision-making and makes maintaining consistent long-term direction more difficult.”
RTC Executive Director Sarah Christensen said in a statement that the report acknowledges the changes that the commission has made over the years to deliver on its goals.
“We’ve made significant investments in strengthening our project delivery and property management expertise,” she said. “These improvements have strengthened our ability to ground decisions in sound technical analysis, deliver complex projects, and responsibly manage our assets. We see the Grand Jury’s recommendations as a constructive roadmap, and we’re committed to continuing to build on the progress we’ve already made.”
Established in 1972 by the state of California, the RTC was initially limited to planning regional transportation and divvying out transportation funding to local agencies, and was not focused on or staffed for the development of projects. But with the public’s interest in preserving the rail corridor, it purchased the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in 2012 with the aim of maintaining freight and recreational rail as well as trail infrastructure.
The commission hired consultants who conducted planning studies into the rail’s development that “relied on 10,000-foot estimates rather than ground level engineering,” according to the civil grand jury report.
“They assumed passenger rail and a trail could coexist without rigorously analyzing the costs of retaining walls and bridge replacements required by the corridor’s topography,” the report reads. “The studies focused heavily on the benefits of rail but wildly underestimated the true costs.”
Over time, with ownership of the rail, the commission worked to develop in-house expertise and hired engineers and technical staff starting in 2017. Still, its reports didn’t “meaningfully advance environmental review or required engineering and scoping,” the report said.
The grand jury cites a 2021 Transit Corridor Alternatives Analysis that estimated a passenger rail system would cost about $480 million to build on the corridor. Only four years later, the commission released another report, conducted by the same firm, HDR, with much more extensive analysis that brought the total cost for the rail system to about $4.3 billion.
“This ten-fold increase highlights the failure of early studies to capture the difficult engineering realities of the [rail line], doing a disservice to both the [transportation commission] and the general public,” the report reads.
The grand jury report also evaluates the geographic challenges as well as the infrastructure constraints the rail system presents.
Civil grand jury faults Santa Cruz transportation commission for decades of flawed rail planning
lookout.co
A new civil grand jury report faults the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission for decades of flawed planning on the coastal rail corridor. It says officials advanced proposals without ...0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Monterey County Grand Jury
www.govtech.com/public-safety/grand-jury-monterey-county-calif-needs-better-emergency-radios
Grand Jury: Monterey County, Calif., Needs Better Emergency Radios
Monterey Daily Herald, by Kyarra Harris, May 05, 2026
A new civil grand jury report details gaps in emergency radio coverage across Monterey County, raising concerns about communication failures during fires and other emergencies.
The report, released Friday, examined radio communication systems used by fire agencies serving unincorporated areas and found that challenging terrain, limited funding and delayed adoption of newer technology have contributed to inconsistent coverage.
According to the findings, large portions of the county experience unreliable radio signals. Radio signals also may not be available in their area. Digital radio coverage, which is widely used for clearer communication, does not reach about 42 percent of the county’s geographic area. Analog radio, which has broader reach but lower quality, still leaves about 18 percent of the county without coverage.
The report states that these gaps create a risk for both residents and emergency responders, particularly during life-threatening situations where communication is critical.
Investigators identified several areas with limited or no coverage, including parts of North Salinas, Prunedale, Carmel Valley Village, Big Sur and south Monterey County. Coverage issues also extend indoors, where buildings can block radio signals.
Monterey County’s geography was cited as a major factor. The region spans more than two million acres, with elevations ranging from sea level to over 5,800 feet, creating natural barriers that interfere with radio transmission.
The report also points to the complexity of the county’s fire protection system. Multiple independent fire districts operate across unincorporated areas, each with its own funding and equipment. This has led to uneven adoption of communication technology and coordination challenges between agencies.
Firefighters often rely on a mix of analog and digital radios and must manually adjust frequencies depending on their location. The report found that while experienced personnel are able to navigate these systems, newer responders or those working outside their usual areas may face delays or communication breakdowns.
Efforts are underway to improve the system through the county’s Next Generation Radio Network project, which is testing newer technologies such as LTE, Wi-Fi and low-orbit satellite communication. Early testing suggests these options could reduce coverage gaps, but they have not yet been fully implemented.
Cost remains a major barrier. Building additional radio towers can improve coverage, but each tower can exceed $1 million due to difficult terrain and limited access. Newer radios that support multiple communication modes can cost about $12,000 per unit, placing additional strain on fire districts that must purchase their own equipment.
Funding for fire districts largely comes from property taxes, which have been limited since the passage of Proposition 13. The report found that this funding model does not provide enough revenue to support necessary upgrades to communication systems.
The civil grand jury issued several recommendations, including directing the Monterey County Board of Supervisors to develop a plan to address radio coverage gaps, identify funding sources and support fire districts in upgrading equipment.
County officials are required to respond to the findings and recommendations within 90 days.
Grand Jury: Monterey County, Calif., Needs Better Emergency Radios
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A new civil grand jury report details gaps in emergency radio coverage across Monterey County, raising concerns about communication failures during fires and other emergencies.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
Santa Barbara Grand Jury
Grand Jury Warns Santa Barbara Is Falling Behind on Disaster Prep New Report Says County Agency Is Understaffe
d and Underfunded
www.independent.com/2026/06/24/grand-jury-warns-santa-barbara-is-falling-behind-on-disaster-prep/
Santa Barbara Independent THU JUL 2, 2026
News
Public Safety
Grand Jury Warns Santa Barbara Is Falling Behind on Disaster Prep New Report Says County Agency Is Understaffed and Underfunded
Grand Jury Warns Santa Barbara Is Falling Behind on Disaster Prep
www.independent.com
A new report says the county agency is understaffed and underfunded.0 CommentsComment on Facebook
www.kclu.org/2026-06-25/new-report-calls-for-more-enforcement-of-fireworks-use-by-the-public-in-v...
Ventura County Civil Grand Jury Report
Here and Now
California Coast News
New report calls for more enforcement of fireworks used by the public in Ventura County
KCLU | By Lance Orozco
Published June 25, 2026 at 2:05 PM PDT
Illegal fireworks seized by Oxnard Police.
The Ventura County Civil Grand Jury says additional laws are needed, and public safety agencies need to improve enforcement coordination.
With the Fourth of July just around the corner, a new grand jury report says Ventura County and its cities should be doing more to regulate the public use of legal and illegal fireworks.
The Ventura County Civil Grand Jury is calling for the county and cities that don’t have host liability ordinances to create them. The ordinances could help discourage the use of home fireworks.
Ventura, Oxnard, and Fillmore have host liability ordinances, but other cities in the county don’t.
The grand jury also says there needs to be more coordination among public safety agencies over fireworks enforcement.
Public use of fireworks is illegal in Ventura County except in the City of Fillmore. So-called “safe and sane” fireworks can be purchased there, but they must be used within the city limits.
New report calls for more enforcement of fireworks used by the public in Ventura County
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Sacramento County Civil Grand Jury 2025-2026 compliance report on county foster youth from a 2023-2024 report.
Sacramento's foster youth system doing better, but still needs work, grand jury states
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The Sacramento County Civil Grand Jury has released a follow-up report looking at the county's response to its foster youth. While the Grand Jury found that Child Protective Services had made great st...0 CommentsComment on Facebook
CGJA Journal
This bimonthly journal is a major source of information about the civil grand jury system and recent updates on CGJA activities of interest to our members.
The Gift of Your Time
is Priceless
CGJA is an all-volunteer membership organization. We succeed mainly because our members volunteer to serve on our committees and/or train civil grand jurors. Serving on committees almost never requires travel as we communicate via email and computer video. Our trainers do travel to venues throughout the state and we reimburse them for lodging, mileage, and a modest per diem for other expenses.
