JUDICIARY

    For the past ten years, Governors have ignored the decision in Allegheny County v. Casey which held that the local court system has been inadequately and unevenly funded by the General Assembly. When the General Assembly failed to act, the county commissioners association brought an enforcement action. In 1996, the Supreme Court appointed retired Justice Montemuro as a special master to submit a plan for implementation. He recommended a phased implementation beginning July of 1998. The Conference Report adopts the Governor=s recommended funding to implement the first phase of the master=s recommendation as follows:

• County Court Administrators - $11.966 million would fund the transfer of the county court top administrative staff to a state appropriation. Approximately $10.3 million of the cost will be for the 173 persons to be transferred.
• State Court Administrator - $ 2.859 million to provide additional support to the State Court Administrator to implement statewide funding.
• Judicial Council - $180,000 to establish the Judicial Council.
• Court Management Education - $200,000
• Judicial Computer System - $266,000 to support computer and communication capacity as well as computer maintenance and training.

    In addition, the Conference Report funds a Judge=s Ethics Commission at a cost of $54,000 and a Juvenile Rules Committee for $65,000. Both agencies were requested by the court system and the Governor..

    The Governor proposed a 6.76% increase for the Supreme Court, an 8.09% increase for the Superior Court and 5.81% for the Commonwealth Court. He recommended the elimination of the appropriation for the Office of Legal Systems, which has been the computerization effort of the appellate courts. The Conference Report adopts the Governor=s budget regarding the appellate courts without change.

    Approximately one half of 4.22% increase for the Courts of Common Pleas is the annualization of the cost of the 19 new judges who first took office in January of 1998. The Pittsburgh Magistrate Court was reduced from $5.475 million in the current year to $1.2 million in 1998-99.