Brief (1)
HB 3009, as amended, would create a statutory fund for the Judicial Council that presently exists as a proviso in annual appropriations bills. The fund would be named the "Publications Fee Fund" and would be used only for expenses of the Council related to preparing, publishing, and distributing the Council's legal publications. Revenues from the sale of the publications would be the primary source of revenue to the Fund.
HB 3009 would not take effect until FY 2002.
Background
HB 3009 was recommended for introduction by the House Appropriations Budget Committee that considered the budget of the Judicial Council. The Judicial Council receives revenues from both the State General Fund and from the sale of legal publications. A proviso to the Council's appropriation authorizes the Council to charge fees for its legal publications and directs that all money received from the fees be credited to the Publications Fee Fund.
Until FY 1999, the proviso restricted expenditures from the Fund to costs associated with the publications. However, because balances had built up in the Fund, the 1999 Legislature transferred some of the money to the State General Fund and removed restrictions on expenditures so that money from the Fund could be used for expenditures other than those directly related to publications. The purpose of the action was to use fees to offset State General Fund expenditures.
In the Governor's recommendations for FY 2001, with which the House Appropriations Committee concurs, expenditures from the Publications Fee Fund again are maximized to reduce expenditures from the State General Fund. (It is estimated that expenditures from the Publications Fee Fund will be $116,670 in FY 2001, of which only $62,965 would be directly related to publications activities.) However, the Executive Director of the Judicial Council expressed his concern that the Publications Fee Fund cannot withstand continued erosion of its balances due to expenditures unrelated to publications and requested legislation that would establish the Fund statutorily and limit the purposes for which expenditures could be made to publications activities.
The fiscal impact of HB 3009, as introduced, was estimated by the Division of the Budget to be $51,355 in FY 2001, as the result of the State General Fund having to finance expenditures that otherwise would be financed from the Publications Fee Fund. However, the House Appropriations Committee amendment would delay implementation of the bill until FY 2002 so that there would be no impact on the State General Fund in FY 2001.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html