Senate Appropriations Committee Leaves Judiciary Looking to Basic Services
Congress delivered some budgetary good news/bad news to the Judiciary before it recessed for August. The House passed the Fiscal Year 2002 Commerce, Justice, State, and the Judiciary Appropriations bill with a 10 percent increase over FY 01 for the Judiciary. That was the good news—although it was still $184 million below the Judiciary's request of $4.8 billion. The Senate Appropriations Committee, however, recommended only a 5.6 percent increase and reduced the Judiciary's budget still further—to $373 million below our request.
"We are understandably disappointed with the lower Senate appropriation and seriously concerned that at this level of funding key Judiciary functions may be affected," said Administrative Office Director Leonidas Ralph Mecham. "The Judicial Conference Budget Committee led by Judge John G. Heyburn (W.D. Ky.), liaison judges, and AO staff are working with members of Congress and hope we will be given an opportunity during Congress' August recess to address our concerns."
The major reductions on the Senate side have been taken in Salaries and Expenses, Defender Services, Court Security, and Administrative Office accounts.
Court Salaries and Expenses
The appropriation recommended in the Senate bill for the courts' Salaries and Expenses account is $177 million below the budget request, but is a 5.9 percent increase over FY 01. At this level, funds are insufficient to cover fully such current services as rent paid to the General Services Administration for courthouses, the cost of staff approved in FY 01, and inflationary increases. The low Senate level would have the affect of canceling out any staffing increases approved by Congress last year to help Southwest border courts cope with an overwhelming criminal caseload. Unlike the past two years, the bill does not address the district court judgeship needs of the border courts. It does earmark money to hire additional magistrate judges along the southwest border, under the mistaken impression that magistrate judges may be substituted for Article III judges.
Defender Services
The appropriation recommended in the Senate bill for the Defender Services account is $58 million below the budget request, but is a 7 percent increase over FY 01. Both the House and Senate approved a significant increase in panel attorney in-court and out-of-court rates to $90 per hour. The Senate bill, however, severely underfunds Federal Defender Organizations (FDOs) by $40.1 million. At the recommended Senate funding level, FDOs would be unable to accept 10,000 Criminal Justice Act appointments, 13 percent of their total projected caseload in FY 2002.
Court Security
The appropriation recommended in the Senate bill for Court Security is $18.7 million below the budget request and earmarks funds for lower priority security needs. This may have negative consequences for court security in facilities nationwide. At this level, funding is insufficient to meet existing Court Security Officer staffing levels and to supply security equipment and CSOs for new or renovated facilities.
Administrative Office
The appropriation provided in the Senate bill for AO operating expenses is $7.8 million below the Judiciary's request. The AO's appropriation was reduced further when the committee earmarked $3 million for the University of Mississippi to support real time captioning initiatives for the hearing disabled. To operate at this funding level, the AO would have to institute a hiring freeze and could be forced to release 25 percent of its current on-board staff. Consequently, the AO will be unable to fulfill many of its administrative, policy, and program oversight responsibilities in support of the courts and the Judicial Conference unless funds are increased during the House and Senate conference on the bill.
Pay Issues
At the time the Senate bill was reported out of committee, a decision had not yet been made on a 2002 cost-of-living adjustment for Members of Congress, so the language required by Section 140 of P.L. 97-92 for judges to receive a COLA was not included in the bill. Subsequently, a COLA for Members was approved and the Judiciary is confident that the appropriate language will be added on the Senate floor or in conference to provide judges an estimated 3.4 percent COLA.
For court employees, both the House and Senate have included language to raise the General Schedule COLA from 3.6 to 4.6 percent, although the President has not yet agreed to it.
FY 2002 House and Senate Appropriations ($ in millions) |
||||
| Account | FY 2001 Judiciary Enacted* | FY 2002 Judiciary Request | House Passed Bill | Senate Passed by Full Committee |
| Supreme Court | ||||
| $37,558 | $42,114 | $42,066 | $39,988 | |
| 7,513 | 17,742 | 70,000 | 7,530 | |
| Federal Circuit | 17,954 | 20,446 | 19,287 | 19,372 |
| International Trade | 12,475 | 13,112 | 13,073 | 13,054 |
| Courts of Appeals, District Courts & Other Judicial Services |
||||
| 3,364,109 | 3,738,466 | 3,634,632 | 3,561,704 | |
| 434,043 | 521,517 | 500,671 | 463,756 | |
| 59,436 | 50,131 | 48,131 | 50,131 | |
| 199,136 | 228,433 | 224,433 | 209,762 | |
| Administrative Office | 58,212 | 63,029 | 60,029 | 58,212† |
| Federal Judicial Center | 18,736 | 20,323 | 20,235 | 19,742 |
| Retirement Trust Funds | 35,700 | 37,000 | 37,000 | 37,000 |
| U.S. Sentencing Commission | 9,909 | 12,400 | 11,575 | 11,327 |
| $4,254,781 | $4,864,713 | $4,681,132 | $4,491,578 | |
| 14.3% | 10.0% | 5.6% | ||
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