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Karen Redmond, 202-502-2600
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April 5, 2006 — The federal courts have asked Congress to provide a fiscal year 2007 appropriation sufficient to build on the gains achieved in FY 2006, or risk re-creating the funding problems of past years.

"The federal Judiciary is approaching a crossroads in fiscal year 2007," Judge Julia Gibbons, chair of the Judicial Conference Budget Committee, said in a House appropriations hearing today. "With the gains you helped us achieve in FY 2006, we are on the brink of setting a new course that will restore the financial health of the federal court system. But it will take the resources we seek in our FY 2007 budget request to accomplish that goal and to avoid a repeat of the staffing losses that occurred in FY 2004 and FY 2005."

Judge Gibbons appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury, Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, District of Columbia and Independent Agencies, with Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Leonidas Ralph Mecham. Judge Gibbons noted that this was the final appearance of Director Mecham at an appropriations hearing. The longest serving director of the AO, Mecham has announced his retirement.

"During these times of fiscal constraint and limited discretionary spending," Director Mecham said, "the Administrative Office takes the lead in assisting the courts in developing new, innovative, and cost-effective ways to carry out the business of the Judiciary."

The Judiciary is requesting $6.26 billion for FY 2007, a 9.4 percent overall increase above fiscal year 2006 available appropriations, and an 8.3 percent increase for the courts' Salaries and Expenses account. Funding requirements essentially reflect basic operating costs, predominantly for personnel and space requirements. Of the $540 million increase being requested for FY 2007, a total of $462 million, or 86 percent of the requested increase, represents must-pay items such as pay and benefit increases, space rental increases, panel attorney payments, and general inflationary increases for Judiciary programs.

"We believe this level of funding represents the minimum amount required to meet our constitutional and statutory responsibilities," said Judge Gibbons.

Judge Gibbons cited several factors that have added to the courts' workload in the last year, including actions taken by the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice that have increased immigration cases in the border courts by 68 percent since 2001 and related appeals 19 percent in the same period; and issues raised in the Supreme Court decisions in U.S. v. Booker and U.S. v. Fanfan that added over 14,500 cases to court dockets.

Judge Gibbons cited the need to reduce the Judiciary's rent burden. Rent payments to the General Services Administration (GSA), are expected to consume 20 percent of the courts' operating budget in fiscal year 2006 and will soon top $1 billion per year.

"Especially during these times of limited resources," Director Mecham said, "I fear that our ability to carry out the basic functions of the judicial branch are at stake if rent relief is not obtained."

Meanwhile, according to Judge Gibbons and Director Mecham, the Judiciary is actively working to restore the financial health of the federal court system. Cost-containment efforts and productivity improvements in clerks' and probation and pretrial services offices lowered the Judiciary's budget requirements by $80 million.

Director Mecham noted that among the initiatives that have already yielded savings are the moratoria on space projects, reductions to probation and pretrial services work requirements, reductions and elimination of redundant Federal Protective Service contract guard services, and productivity adjustments to court staffing formulas.

In addition, in the absence of rent relief, the Judiciary has assumed the burden of minimizing its rent payments to GSA by scrutinizing rent bills and identifying overcharges.

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