We are unaware of any principle of judicial administration which justifies this. California is huge. Its neighbors don't want to be dominated. Nonetheless, Arizona residents are well aware of the important commercial and cultural ties shared with California. In 1997, Arizona debtors listed 44,416 California creditors in their petitions and 620 California attorneys entered an appearance in our Court.
Bankruptcy is no small matter.
With filings of more than a million cases annually, the Bankruptcy Code touches more Americans than any other statute, except the Federal Tax Code. Of the 1,367,364 bankruptcies filed nationally in 1997, Ninth Circuit bankruptcy courts handled 309,150 cases and an additional 17,893 adversary proceedings. This circuit supports courts ranging from the nation's largest bankruptcy court in the Central District of California to small northwestern districts with largely rural and agricultural orientations. It has consistently been a leading innovator in bankruptcy administration. While that institution will provide its own witness for this commission, we also wish to briefly address its operations.