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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 30, 2014 11:05 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative John Taylor |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Clerk of Court/Prothonotary Transfer Act |
| In the near future I plan to introduce legislation to transfer county clerks of court, prothonotaries and selected deputies to state judicial system service. Many of you who served or worked with county government understand that these offices are essential to the efficient functioning of the county courts. Having these offices under the direction of the president judge will better assure proper staffing and funding, which will translate to the most efficient operation of these offices. The bill will apply to all prothonotaries and clerks of court, or equivalent offices in home rule counties, as well as clerks of orphans’ court whose offices are combined with the prothonotary or clerk of court. The bill creates new offices in each judicial district that mirror current offices and transfers all duties and responsibilities to the new offices under the supervision of the president judge. As applicable, there would be a civil, criminal and orphan’s court division records office. Any currently combined offices would remain combined under the bill. Current elected officials may choose to transfer to state service immediately. If an official decides not to transfer, the office will be transferred at the expiration of the current term. To ensure that this transfer will not cause a financial detriment to any of these officeholders, officials will have the option after transfer of either becoming a member of the state benefit and retirement system or remaining with the county benefit and retirement system. Hiring and termination of the state-level employees will be in the same manner as the district court administrators and deputies – a recommendation of the president judge subject to the approval of the state court administrator or the Supreme Court. This proposal will be funded with a current line item, the county court cost reimbursement grant. The Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) will deduct the salary and benefit costs of the transferred offices from the amount appropriated to the county cost grant. The remaining funds in the grant will then be distributed to the counties. There are several benefits to this proposal. Once all clerks and prothonotaries are brought into the Unified Judicial System (UJS) it will enable collection practices to be standardized and existing disparities in collection practices will be eliminated, which should increase collections of fines, fees, costs and restitution. Bringing the filing offices under the UJS will be a substantial step toward the unification of the judicial system much like the transfer of the district court administrators in 2000. A more cohesive management team will be better suited to standardize statewide court practices. Our prothonotaries and clerks are professionals with an expertise in the operation of their offices. Subjecting them to the political process every four years risks losing these attributes not for substantive reasons, but strictly for political reasons. Making these offices appointed positions eliminates this risk and enables the officeholders to do their jobs without the threat of such disruption. Finally, the legislation will allow an official who voluntarily transfers to State judicial service to opt to join the State judicial personnel system, or decline to do so and have his or her compensation and benefits remain with the county. This is to ensure that current officials in these positions incur no financial penalty for transferring service. Please join me in sponsoring this legislation. |
Introduced as HB2316