Last month, the eCJA VPS Project Team successfully presented a live demo of the functions and processes that judges will use to review and approve vouchers. Development of the core functions (voucher preparation, processing, certification and approval) for initial roll-out continues on schedule -- courts will pilot eCJA VPS in December 2012 and national deployment begins in April 2013. For more information, contact George Drakulich at 202-502-3044, or John Fay at 202-502-1640.
February 24, 2012
To conform the CJA Panel Attorney Payment System with the federal defender Case Management System (CMS), it has been necessary to change the clemency representation codes for state clemency, from D5 to D7, and for federal clemency, from D6 to D8 (field 9 on CJA Forms 30 & 31 have been changed to reflect the change). No changes were made to the "stage of proceeding." Questions regarding this change may be directed to Mark Blaskey at 202-502-3030.
On June 30, 2011, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to give retroactive effect to its proposed permanent amendment to the federal sentencing guidelines that implements the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010. Both the amendment and the retroactivity provision became effective on November 1, 2011. New representation types of CK2 and AA2 have been created in order to capture CJA workload associated with appeals involving the retroactive application of the recent amendment. A new representation should be opened for these actions (CK2 for district court or AA2 for appellate court representations) with a case maximum for panel attorney compensation of $2,100. See Guide to Judiciary Policies and Procedures, Volume 7A, Guidelines for the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act and Related Statutes, paragraph 230.23.20.