S0222B1219A03688 DMS:CMD 10/06/17 #90 A03688
AMENDMENTS TO SENATE BILL NO. 222
Sponsor: REPRESENTATIVE MARSICO
Printer's No. 1219
Amend Bill, page 1, line 4, by striking out the period after
"pleas" and inserting
; and, in Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts,
providing for senior judge operational support grant program.
Amend Bill, page 4, by inserting between lines 2 and 3
Section 2. Title 42 is amended by adding a section to read:
§ 1906.1. Senior judge operational support grant program.
(a) Continuation.--The Court Administrator of Pennsylvania
shall continue the program to defray the costs imposed on
counties by the rules of judicial administration for facilities
and staff for senior judges assigned to the courts of common
pleas.
(b) Availability.--Grants shall be made available to
counties based on the level of operational support provided by a
county to:
(1) Senior judges formerly of the judicial district in
which the county is situated who are regularly or
periodically assigned in that county or who are assigned
under section 4544 (relating to convening multicounty
investigating grand jury).
(2) Visiting senior judges.
(c) Purpose.--Grants shall reimburse counties for
operational support provided by the county during the preceding
calendar year. Grants shall be calculated based on use of
judicial chambers, utilization of the services of a law clerk
and utilization of the services of a secretary, which chambers
or services are deemed adequate and appropriate by the
Administrative Office as follows:
(1) Use of judicial chambers shall be reimbursed at the
rate of $60 per day, billable in one-half-day increments.
(2) Utilization of services of a law clerk shall be
reimbursed at $20 per hour.
(3) Utilization of services of a secretary shall be
reimbursed at $12 per hour.
(d) Reimbursement.--
(1) Counties shall be reimbursed upon timely application
by the board of commissioners or, in the absence of a board
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of commissioners, the executive authority of the county or,
in the case of a county which is coterminous with a city of
the first class, the mayor of the city of the first class.
(2) The application shall be certified by the president
judge of the judicial district in which the county is
situated, shall include such documentation as may be required
by the Administrative Office.
(3) The due dates for applications for operational
support provided during each calendar year shall be
established by the Court Administrator of Pennsylvania.
(e) Minimum standards.--The Administrative Office shall set
forth minimum standards regarding adequacy, appropriateness and
quality of judicial chambers and services required to qualify
for reimbursement.
(f) Reduction.--In the event that the total reimbursement
qualifying for payment for any calendar year exceeds the amount
appropriated by the General Assembly for such purpose, the Court
Administrator of Pennsylvania shall proportionally reduce the
grant for each county so that the total of all grants does not
exceed the amount appropriated.
(g) Limit on grant amount.--No county shall receive more
than 20% of the amount appropriated for senior judge operational
support grants in any fiscal year.
(h) Report.--Not later than 60 days following payment of
grants for any year, the Court Administrator of Pennsylvania
shall make a report to the Appropriations Committee of the
Senate and the Appropriations Committee of the House of
Representatives setting forth the payments made to counties and
the services provided.
Amend Bill, page 4, line 3, by striking out "2" and inserting
3
Amend Bill, page 4, by inserting between lines 11 and 12
(3) The addition of 42 Pa.C.S. § 1906.1 shall apply
retroactively to July 1, 2017.
Amend Bill, page 4, line 12, by striking out "3" and
inserting
4
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