NEWS RELEASE

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts

Bare Bones Judiciary Budget Request Carries Risks

Despite a significant growth in workload, the federal Judiciary's Fiscal Year 2000 budget request is a bare bones one that will allow the courts to function at their current services level and will freeze staffing for the second year in a row, a federal judge today told a House appropriations subcommittee.

"We ask for no new initiatives, no new programs . . . and no new court clerk's staff or probation and pretrial services officers," said Judge John G. Heyburn II (W.D. KY), chair of the Budget Committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States. In developing its proposed budget, the Judiciary made several assumptions concerning workload, uncontrollable expenses, and productivity enhancements due to automation and technology. This approach is risky, and if the assumptions prove to be incorrect "it will force us to make some very unsatisfactory and even dangerous choices," Judge Heyburn told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies.

Judge Heyburn was accompanied at the hearing by Chief Judge Lawrence L. Piersol (D.S.D.), who also is a member of the Conference's Budget Committee and Leonidas Ralph Mecham, Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, and a member of the Conference's Executive Committee. Judge Rya W. Zobel, Director of the Federal Judicial Center, presented the Center's budget request.

The Judiciary's total FY 2000 request is for $3.93 billion. The requested $310 million increase over FY 99 is largely to pay for uncontrollable expenses such as rent, annual pay increases, and other mandatory costs associated with law enforcement and increased security needs. If the Salaries and Expenses request of $3.45 billion is not fully funded, the following are possible:

• probation officers will have to focus their supervision efforts on offenders who are the most obvious risk to the community. Those who remain will receive minimal supervision;
• a reduced level of drug and mental health treatment;
• an increase in the average time of disposition for civil and bankruptcy cases and appeals;
• delays in the implementation of important new automated systems;
• reduction in both public hours in clerks' offices and timeliness in responding to public inquiries; and
• shutdown of non-resident, visiting court facilities, which would mean added travel and related costs to litigants and could impose significant hardship on citizens in states whose residents are geographically dispersed.

In FY 2000, approximately $430 million is requested for Defender Services, which represents a 5 percent increase to cover standard pay and inflationary increases, anticipated growth in criminal filings that will increase the number of Criminal Justice Act (CJA) representations, and an increase in the low hourly rates paid to CJA attorneys.

"An impending crisis threatens the entire criminal justice system," Judge Heyburn said. "The crisis is caused by the inordinately low hourly rate currently paid private panel attorneys in non-capital cases." The current rates--$45 for out-of-court work and $65 for in-court work--often don't cover overhead expenses and many judges are reporting that they are having difficulty finding qualified attorneys to accept CJA appointments. "To solve this inequity of only one small rate increase in 15 years and to avert the impending crisis, the Judicial Conference requests an increase . . . to allow all judicial districts to increase the hourly rates up to the statutorily authorized level of $75 per hour," Judge Heyburn said. "We believe that the time has come to raise rates to at least a minimally acceptable level."

For the court security program, a total of $206 million is requested. "Providing an adequate level of security to all citizens entering our federal courthouses remains an ongoing concern of the Judicial Conference," Judge Heyburn said. "Federal courts are among the most vulnerable security risks of any facilities in the nation."

For the jurors program, a total of $72 million is requested. A four percent increase in "juror days" is expected in FY 2000.

Judge Heyburn also told the subcommittee about the numerous steps the Judiciary is taking to economize while increasing efficiency. "Knowing the problem Congress faces in balancing the budget, the Judiciary is doing everything possible to contain costs," he said. "The ability of the courts to handle an ever-growing workload with no additional staff in either fiscal year 1999 or 2000, is dependent upon the potential savings and productivity improvements associated with these initiatives." The highlights of the Judiciary's cost-saving efforts are contained in its annual report entitled Optimal Utilization of Judicial Resources, which can be found on the Judiciary's web site at www.uscourts.gov.

Finally, Judge Heyburn asked the subcommittee to provide fair and adequate compensation to top government officials in all three branches of the federal government. Since 1993, these officials have received only a modest 2.3 percent pay adjustment. "We live in a society where cost-of-living adjustments to maintain purchasing power are a fact of economic life," Judge Heyburn said. "I believe that a majority of the American public supports fair compensation for its government's top officials. With that in mind, we are hopeful that Congress will allow the mechanisms of the 1989 Ethics Reform Act to work, and that all top government officials will be provided a COLA in FY 2000."