New Hampshire Judicial Branch Division I House Finance Monday, - PDF document

New Hampshire Judicial Branch Division I House Finance Monday, March 4, 2013

Judicial Branch FY 2014/2015 Budget Request Budget Schedule Headings Explanation B ecause the Judicial B ranch is a separate branch of governm ent, the G overnor does not m ake line by line reductions to our original budget subm ission, bu.t rather suggests a single G eneral Fund reduction (S ection 9 of the am ount P R O P O S E D B U D G E T S E C TIO N Sat the end of the G overnor's budget) for FY 's 2014 and 2015. S ee R S A 9:4-a We have allocated reduction to im plem ent the G overnor's proposed the back of the budget reduction am ong budget lines. In order to see the reducecLbudget line by line, we have provided our budget in the sam e form at as the G overnor's budget, but in three phases, w ith the follow ing colum n headings for each: P h a se H e a d in g 1 ) O rig in a l b u d g e t su b m issio n G O V E R N O R 'S R E C O M M E N D E D 2 ) R e d u ctio n s p ro p o se d b y th e Ju d icia l B ra n ch B A C K O F B U D G E T R E D U C T IO N to im p le m e n t b a ck o f th e b u d g e t re d u ctio n s 3 ) R e d u ce d b u d g e t (P h a se 1 + P h a se 2 ) R E D U C E D B U D G E T H o u se F in a n ce D iv I C o m m itte e M e e tin g P a g e 1 M a rch 4 , 2 0 1 3

PR O PO SE D B U D G E T SE C T IO N S com m ittee of the general court, and the governor and council on a quarterly 1 2 basis. Section 9 .Judicial B ranch; G eneral Fund A ppropriation R eductions. 3 1. T he judicial branch shall reduce state general fund appropriations by 4 $4,505,461 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014 and by $4,467,039 for the 5 fiscal year ending June 30, 2015. T he branch shall not reduce the transfers to 6 the departm ent of adm inistrative services for court facilities unless the 7 reduction is agreed to by the com m issioner of adm inistrative services and the 8 chief justice of the suprem e court. 9 Section 10 D epartm ent of H ealth and H um an Services; R eduction in 10 A ppropriation. T he departm ent of health and hum an services is hereby directed 11 to reduce state general fund appropriations from adm inistrative salary and 12 13 benefit class lines by $4,500,000 for the biennium ending June 30, 2015. T he departm ent shall provide a quarterly report of reductions m ade under this 14 section to the fiscal com m ittee of the general court and the governor and council. 15 Section 11 16 E stim ates of U nrestricted R evenue. 17 G E N E R A L FU N D 18 FY 2014 FY 2015 19 B U SIN E SS PR O FIT S T A X $258,200,000 20 $276,200,000 B U SIN E SS E N T E R PR ISE T A X 70,000.000 70,800,000 21 SU B T O T A L B U SIN E SS T A X E S 328,200,000 347,000,000 22 23 M E A L S A N D R O O M S T A X 248,100,000 259,600,000 T O B A C C O T A X 129,800,000 24 125,900,000 T R A N SFE R FR O M L IQ U O R 25 132,400,000 135,800,000 IN T E R E ST A N D D IV ID E N D S T A X 26 93,000,000 97,000,000 IN SU R A N C E 27 86,900,000 115,300,000 C O M M U N IC A T IO N S T A X 66,500,000 28 63,300,000 R E A L E ST A T E T R A N SFE R T A X 69,100,000 29 76,000,000 House Finance Div I Committee Meeting March 4, 2013 Page 2

Judicial Branch FY 2014/2015 Budget Request Salary Expenditure Class Lines Clarification TheJudicial Branch budgets its salaries in class lines asfollows (benefits for all classes of employee are budgeted in Class060 Benefits): Class Line I State Description Judicial Branch Description 010 Personal Services-Perm. Classified Full-Time Clerical 011 Personal Services-Unclassified Judicial Salaries (FT, PT and Per Diem) 012 Personal Services-Unclassified 2 Senior Active Status Judges 016 Personal Services Non Classified Marital Master Salaries 050 Personal Services-Temp/Appointed Part-Time Clerical House Finance Div I Committee Meeting Page 3 March 4, 2013

Judicial Branch FY 2014/2015 Budget Request Governor's General Fund Reduction Recommendation Section 9 of the PRO PO SED BUDG ET SECTIO NS of the G overnor's Budget stipulates the Judicial Branch G eneral Fund reduction proposed by the G overnor in the back of the budget: FY 2014 FY 2015 Proposed by G overnor Back of the Budget Reduction (Section 9 of HB1) -$4,505,461 -$4,467,039 The Judicial Branch has proposed the following G eneral Fund reductions: G eneral Fund Appropriations Reduction -$4,350,949 -$4,940,204 W ith the following Variance (Negative is unfavorable): Variance -$154,512 $473,165 Biennial Variance $318,653 House Finance Div I Com m ittee M eeting Page 4 M arch 4, 2013

J u d ic ia l B r a n c h F Y 2 0 1 4 /2 0 1 5 B u d g e t R e q u e s t Im p a c t o f M a r it a l M a s t e r B ill ( H B 6 4 8 ) If the pending Marital Master bill (HB 648) passes, we could achieve the following additional General Fund savings: F Y 2014 F Y 2015 G eneral F und S avings from M arital M aster bill (assum es no retirem ent of -$255,335 -$279,545 the 6 rem aining M arital M asters) N ote: If one or m ore M arital M asters retire, w e w ill need funds to convert those positions to full-tim e judicial positions. H ouse F inance D iv I C om m ittee M eeting P age 5 M arch 4, 2013

Judicial Branch FY 2014/2015 Budget Request Items Not Funded This reduced budget does not include funding for the following items, which are important to providing access to justice: Cost to Restore to Budget: FY2014 FY2015 Additional Circuit Court Per Diem Days (500 additional days, to cover $250,000 $250,000 for illnesses and other absences) Continuing Education 95,000 95,000 Jury Feesat 100% of Need (budgeted in FY14/15 at 80% of estimated need) 124,104 124,104 Law Library at 95% of Need (budgeted in FY14/15 at 80% of estimated need) 100,000 100,000 Total $569,104 $569,104 House Finance Div I Committee Meeting Page 6 March 4, 2013

Judicial Branch FY2014/2015 Budget Request Impact of Items Not Funded A d d itio n a l C ir c u it C o u r t P e r D ie m D a y s As discussed in our p-resentation of February 26, the current Judicial Branch budget estim ates a shortfall in Circuit Court coverage (based on 80% of the weighted caseload) of 847 days each fiscal year. Additional funding would allow for an additional 500 days with per diem Judges. C o n tin u in g E d u c a tio n The G overnor's proposed budget reduction would leave no funds for continuing education. W e m ust provide training specific to the subject m atter needs (Superior Court, District, Probate and Fam ily Divisions) for judicial and non-judicial staff. Furtherm ore, changes related to Innovation Com m ission recom m endations, especially the New Ham pshire eCourt Project, require a workforce trained in new technologies. J u r y F e e s a t 1 0 0 % of N e e d ( b u d g e te d a t 8 0 % of e s tim a te d in F Y 1 4 /1 5 n e e d ) Additional funding for jury fees would pay for the juries needed to sit in trials across the State. The result will be to relieve the length of retention of detainees in county correctional facilities. a t 8 0 % of e s tim a te d L ib r a r y a t 95% L a w o f N e e d ( b u d g e te d in F Y 1 4 /1 5 n e e d ) The law library provides periodicals, books and reference services for legal research to the legal com m unity and the people of the State. The cost of subscriptions to m any of these periodicals and services continues to increase. As the State's only public law library, to the extent we cannot fund these m aterials and services, we lim it access to justice. House Finance Div I Com m ittee M eeting Page 7 M arch 4, 2013

Judicial Branch FY 2014/2015 Budget Request Staffing The Governor's proposed reduced budget would not cause any additional layoffs of staff over those we implemented in FY 2011. It does not provide funding for any additional staff other than the following: FY2014 FY2015 1 Superior Court Justice $260,022 $262,447 1 Superior Court Jus~ice 0 262,447 1 Court Monitor 57,872 61,155 1 Court Monitor 0 ~155 Total $317,894 $647,204 House Finance Div I Committee Meeting Page 8 March 4, 2013

Judicial Branch FY 2014/2015 Budget Request Impact of Further General Fund Reductions TheJudicial Branch has worked diligently over the past several years to identify General Fund reductions that would permit us to operate within our apprapriations. We have: • reduced our workforce by 72 positions in the FY12/13 biennium through restructuring and reorganization • im plem ented furloughs representing 2 weeks of unpaid tim e for Judges and non-judicial em ployees • suspended jury trials • closed courthouses to the public • Suprem e Court created the Innovation Com m ission in M arch, 2010. The following Innovation Com m ission recom m endations were im plem ented or are in progress: • Call Center • Video Conferencing • Circuit Court restructuring • Superior Court adm inistrative changes • eCourt • m igration from a Full-Tim e to Part-Tim e workforce House Finance Div I Com m ittee M eeting Page 9 M arch 4, 2013

NH Judicial Branch Full-Time Clerical Headcount and Cases Filed* 2008 Actual through 2015 Budget 700 614 600 500 400 • Case/Charges Filed (1000s) • FT HC at PP26 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 FY2013 Pro] FY2014 Bgt FY2015 Bgt * Cases Filed are for each calendar year through 2012 and are in 10005 Page 10