Pennsylvania Chief Justice Castile asked the Senate and House Appropriations Committee of the General Assembly to appropriate $71 million more than the budget proposed by Gov. Corbett bringing the total to $348 million for FY 2011-12.
Testimony: Copy of written statement
Accompanied at the hearings by Justice Debra M. Todd, the chief justice spoke about the need for greater Judicial Branch input into the appropriations process to remedy the Judiciary’s adverse circumstances.
“Given six years of structural deficits, it is clear that the current process does not work, whether in good times or bad,” the chief justice said. “It does not respect the symmetry of three, co-equal branches of government. It does not uphold the core function of the Judiciary in democratic governance.
It does not consider the impact of underfunding the courts. And it is leading us all toward a crisis not of the Judiciary’s choosing.”
Gov. Tom Corbett’s $276 million budget proposal for the Judiciary provides level funding for Fiscal Year 2011-2012. However, it ignores an inherited accumulated budget deficit from serial underfunding. The chief justice repeatedly has noted that no amount of savings or cutbacks can remedy the deficiency.
“The current executive and legislative branches did not create the Judiciary’s six past deficits, but this is the year when a new process can begin to put funding for the court system back on sound footing and avoid placing Pennsylvania’s justice system at risk,” Chief Justice Castille told committee members.
Other specific issues raised include:
Extending Temporary Fees: Chief Justice Castile said he would be asking the General Assembly to extend Act 49 enacted in 2009 to authorize the imposition of a temporary filing fee which helps the Judiciary offset about $29 million in state budget cuts. Act 49 expires in January 2012.
Medical Malpractice Crisis: The medical malpractice crisis is over, according to Chief Justice Castile, as a result of rule changes by the court system. He noted there has been a 70 percent decrease in the number of cases filed in Philadelphia and overall medical malpractice awards have dropped from $370 to 147 million last year. Sen. John Rafferty (R-Montgomery) said some doctors may disagree with that characterization.
Reducing District Magistrates: Castile said he intends to reduce the number of district magistrates by 50 across the state through attrition, retirements or deaths when a current magistrate's 6-year term is up. There are now 550 district judges.
