PRINTER'S NO. 1221
No. 977 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY BRIGHTBILL, GREENLEAF, ERICKSON, HELFRICK AND
D. WHITE, JUNE 18, 2001
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, JUNE 18, 2001
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 42 (Judiciary and Judicial Procedure) of the
2 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, providing for senior
3 judge operational support grants.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Title 42 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
7 Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
8 § 1906. Senior judge operational support grants.
9 (a) Program.--The Court Administrator of Pennsylvania shall
10 create a program to defray the costs imposed on counties by the
11 rules of judicial administration for facilities and staff for
12 senior judges assigned to the courts of common pleas.
13 (b) Availability.--Grants will be made available to counties
14 based on the level of operational support provided by a county
15 to:
16 (1) Senior judges formerly of the judicial district in
17 which the county is situated who are regularly or
18 periodically assigned in that county or who are assigned
1 pursuant to section 4544 (relating to convening multicounty
2 investigating grand jury).
3 (2) Visiting senior judges.
4 (c) Purpose.--Grants will be made available to counties to
5 reimburse them for operational support provided by the county
6 during the preceding calendar year. Grants will be calculated
7 based on use of judicial chambers, utilization of the services
8 of a law clerk and utilization of the services of a secretary
9 which chambers or services is deemed adequate and appropriate by
10 the Administrative Office as follows:
11 (1) Use of judicial chambers will be reimbursed at the
12 rate of $60 per day, billable in one-half day increments.
13 (2) Utilization of services of a law clerk will be
14 reimbursed at $20 per hour.
15 (3) Utilization of services of a secretary will be
16 reimbursed at $12 per hour.
17 (4) The rates of reimbursement set forth in this
18 subsection may be adjusted by the Court Administrator of
19 Pennsylvania for fiscal years beginning on July 1, 2004, and
20 thereafter.
21 (d) Reimbursement.--Counties will be reimbursed upon timely
22 application by the board of commissioners or, in the absence of
23 a board of commissioners, the executive authority of the county
24 or, in the case of a county which is coterminous with a city of
25 the first class, the mayor of the city of the first class. The
26 application shall be certified by the president judge of the
27 judicial district in which the county is situated, shall include
28 such documentation as may be required by the Administrative
29 Office and shall be submitted as follows:
30 (1) Applications for reimbursement for operational
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1 support provided by counties during calendar 2001 shall be
2 submitted by April 1, 2002 and grants shall be paid by June
3 30, 2002.
4 (2) The due dates for applications for operational
5 support provided during calendar years beginning January 1,
6 2002 and thereafter shall be established by the Court
7 Administrator of Pennsylvania.
8 (e) Minimum standards.--The Administrative Office shall set
9 forth minimum standards regarding adequacy, appropriateness and
10 quality of judicial chambers and services required to qualify
11 for reimbursement.
12 (f) Reduction.--In the event that the total reimbursement
13 qualifying for payment for any calendar year exceeds the amount
14 appropriated by the General Assembly for such purpose, the Court
15 Administrator of Pennsylvania shall proportionally reduce the
16 grant for each county so that the total of all grants does not
17 exceed the amount appropriated.
18 (g) Limit on grant amount.--No county shall receive more
19 than 20% of the amount appropriated for senior judge operational
20 support grants in any fiscal year.
21 (h) Report.--Not later than 60 days following payment of
22 grants for any year, the Court Administrator of Pennsylvania
23 shall make a report to the Appropriations Committee of the
24 Senate and the Appropriations Committee of the House of
25 Representatives setting forth the payments made to counties and
26 the services provided.
27 (i) Expiration.--This section shall expire on June 30, 2007,
28 unless reenacted prior to that date.
29 Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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