Brief ⁽¹⁾

Sub. for SB 85 would increase certain docket fees and credit the increase to the Nonjudicial Salary Initiative Fund, a fund from which expenditures are made for the salaries of nonjudicial employees of the Judicial Branch. The purpose of the docket fee increase would be to provide funding for the second and final phase of a salary initiative that was implemented in the current fiscal year with docket fee increases approved by the 2000 Legislature.

The docket fees that would be increased by the bill are as follows:

The amount of revenue estimated to be generated by the increase would be $1,485,630 in FY 2002 and $2,461,755 in FY 2003. Anticipated revenues would be lower in FY 2002 because of a lag before increased revenues would be received. The bill would make technical adjustments to the percentages of docket fees that are earmarked for other units of government, state agencies, the Access to Justice Fund, and the State General Fund in order to maintain these units at the current level. One set of adjustments reflects anticipated docket fee receipts in FY 2002 and a second reflects anticipated fees in FY 2003. Under the proposal, no entity that currently receives docket fee revenue would receive less money than it does now.

The bill also amends the section of existing law that currently restricts expenditures from the Nonjudicial Salary Initiative Fund to those needed to maintain the salary upgrades approved for FY 2001. The change would allow the Judicial Branch to use money from the fund for reclassifications and other salary initiatives proposed for FY 2002 so that the Judicial Branch would be able to hire and retain qualified employees.

Background

Sub. for SB 85 was recommended by the Senate Ways and Means Subcommittee that considered the FY 2002 budget of the Judicial Branch. In 2000, the Judicial Branch proposed a salary initiative for nonjudicial employees that would have upgraded salaries, tied cost-of-living adjustments to increases in the inflation rate, implemented a performance-based pay plan for supervisory employees, and eliminated annual step increases in favor of less frequent but more meaningful increases. The 2000 Legislature increased a number of docket fees to implement the first phase of the initiative, which increased the salaries of nonjudicial employees by approximately $3.5 million in FY 2001. The second phase of the upgrade will involve a performance-based pay plan for supervisory employees and the reclassification of some positions. Specific details of the proposal would be considered by the Legislature in the Omnibus Bill if Sub. for SB 85 is enacted.

The Ways and Means Subcommittee that considered the Judicial Branch's budget during the 2000 Session recommended that a study be conducted by the Judicial Council to identify other docket fees that could be increased to pay for the second phase of the salary plan initiative. The recommendations of the Judicial Council were contained in SB 85 as introduced and were modified by the current Ways and Means Subcommittee on the Judicial Branch's budget to reduce the amount of revenue that would be generated by the increase by approximately $1.0 million. With the exception of the fees for limited action which also were raised in 2000, most of the fees contained in Sub. for SB 85 have not been raised in many years. For example, fees for filings relating to probate last were changed in 1984.

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/fulltext.cgi