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106 ^th Congress Ends

A COLA for Judges, New Judgeships and Judiciary Funding in Final Bills

With the presidential election resolved, Congress finally wrapped up its own business and headed home. The 106^th Congress ended December 15 with the passage of the final appropriations bills, which the President is expected to sign. The Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies appropriations bill, H.R. 4942, contains the Judiciary's budget, clears the way for a cost-of-living adjustment for judges, and creates 10 new Article III judgeships. The Treasury, Postal Service and General Government appropriations bill, included as part of the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act, H.R. 4577, includes funding for courthouse construction.

In other legislation of interest to the Judiciary, last month Congress passed the Federal Courts Improvement Bill, which has been signed into law. It also passed the Bankruptcy Reform bill, which was subsequently vetoed by the President. Finally, in the last hours of the 106^th Congress, a bill to modify the affect of the Lexecon decision was passed by the House and sent to the Senate. However, the Senate adjourned without taking action on the bill.

"After several months of uncertainty, the final passage of the Judiciary's budget and the prospect of a well-deserved cost-of-living increase for our federal judges in the New Year is welcome news," said Administrative Office Director Leonidas Ralph Mecham. "Many federal judges, in particular Judge John G. Heyburn and his Judicial Conference Budget Committee, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist stepping in during the critical end game, as well as Administrative Office staff, fought what at times may have seemed an uphill battle to deliver our budgetary message to Congress. In fact, before the House and Senate conference on our budget, we faced significant shortages in our appropriation. The fight for a COLA for judges also was on-going, and the outcome was frequently in doubt. However, I'm happy to report success on both fronts. In addition, the Judiciary begins 2001 with sufficient funding in our Salaries and Expenses appropriations account to fully implement the new staffing formulas approved by the Judicial Conference in September, effectively lifting a two-year freeze on new staffing."

The Judiciary's Budget

Three months into the 2001 fiscal year, the Judiciary still was being funded through continuing resolutions—21 in all. The CRs give budgetary authority at FY 2000 levels to federal departments and programs until regular appropriations bills are enacted. Despite talk among a few conservatives of yet another continuing resolution lasting until September 2001, in the end Congress passed, and sent to the President, the remaining appropriations bills. H.R. 4942 funds the Judiciary at the House-Senate conference report levels of $4.3 billion, less a .22 percent (.0022) government-wide rescission. The final levels amount to an 8 percent increase over FY 2000 appropriations. For the Salaries and Expenses account, appropriations provided are sufficient to fully fund the court allotments approved in the interim financial plan by the Executive Committee in September. Nationally, court allotments grew by 14 percent over FY 2000 allotments and provide for 1,559 new court support staff. Fees of Jurors is fully funded for 2001, and the appropriated funds for Defender Services is sufficient to fund federal defender organization needs and a $5 rate increase to $75 in-court and $55 out-of-court per hour for panel attorneys, effective later in the new year. Court Security, however, is underfunded by about $16 million, and the appropriations allow for only current services for the Administrative Office and the Federal Judicial Center. As this newsletter went to press, President Clinton had not yet signed H.R. 4942, but he promised that he would.

Judicial Pay

Revised Pay Rates as of January 1, 2001
Chief Justice Associate Justices Circuit Judges District Judges Judges, U.S. Court of International Trade Judges, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Bankruptcy Judges Magistrate Judges (Full time)	$186,300 $178,300 $153,900 $145,100 $145,100 $145,100 $133,492 $133,492

The Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary and Related Agencies appropriations bill contained the required waiver of section 140 of P.L. 97-92, clearing the way for judges to receive a 2.7 percent Employment Cost Index (ECI) adjustment along with members of Congress and Executive Schedule employees on January 1, 2001. Annual cost-of-living adjustments are automatic for Members of Congress and Executive Schedule government employees unless legislation denying the increase is passed.

This will be the first election year ECI since 1992. Judges will have received ECI increases in 3 of the past 4 years, following a period of 4 years in which there were no increases.

Judgeships

New Judgeships
District   Arizona Southern District of Florida Eastern District of Kentucky New Mexico Nevada South Carolina Southern District of Texas Western District of Texas Eastern District of Virginia Eastern District of Wisconsin	Authorized in H.R. 4942 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

The Commerce, Justice, State appropriations bill also included a provision creating 10 new district court judgeships. In July, the Judicial Conference transmitted to Congress a revised request for six permanent judgeships and four temporary judgeships for the courts of appeals and 30 permanent district judgeships and 23 temporary district judgeships. The Conference also recommended that seven temporary district judgeships be made permanent and that one be extended. On September 19, 2000, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Judicial Conference proposal as S. 3071, but that bill failed to move in the 106^th Congress. Congress last created new judgeships in 1999, inclu-ding 9 in the omnibus appropriations bill. These were the first since the Judgeship Act of 1990 was passed.

Courthouses

The Treasury, Postal Services appropriations bill, included in the final omnibus appropriations bill, contains $559 million in funding for eight new courthouse construction projects, four in fiscal year 2001 and four more in 2002. The 2001 courthouses are in Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; Richmond, Virginia; and Gulfport, Mississippi. Funding for four more courthouse projects in Washington, D.C.; Buffalo, New York; Springfield, Massachusetts; and Miami, Florida, is also appropriated in the bill but cannot be obligated until fiscal year 2002. The bill also includes funding in the coming year for repairs and alterations on nearly a dozen courthouse projects.

Bankruptcy Reform Bill

One piece of legislation of interest to the Judiciary to be passed by Congress in its lame duck session also was packed with provisions some of which were opposed by the Judicial Conference. In early December, the Senate passed the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1999, H.R. 2415, and sent the bill to the White House. The House had passed the bill in October and sent it on to the Senate for its consideration. On the plus side, the bill included 23 new bankruptcy judgeships and extended the terms of five existing temporary judgeships. The Judicial Conference had recommended the creation of 24 new bankruptcy judgeships, conversion of two temporary judgeships to permanent judgeships, and extension of the terms of three other existing temporary judgeships.

The bill contains several provisions the Conference opposes. Among these are provisions that would allow direct appeals to circuit courts from the decisions of bankruptcy judges; impose a duty upon bankruptcy clerks to maintain tax returns filed by debtors; impose a duty upon bankruptcy clerks and the Administrative Office to collect statistical data from bankruptcy filings and report such data to Congress; and revise filing fees in chapter 7 and chapter 13 cases and reduce by approximately $25 million over five years that portion of the revenue generated by such fees that is allocated to the Judiciary under current law. These provisions were included in the final bill despite appeals by Administrative Office Director Leonidas Ralph Mecham, a letter voicing strong opposition from the chief judges of 11 of the circuit courts of appeals, and efforts by AO staff to communicate Conference concerns to Hill staff.

The President pocket-vetoed the bill, thus defeating the legislation for the 106^th Congress.