Governor Walker submitted his 2015-2017 biennial budget to the legislature on February 3. The governor’s proposed budget for the Judiciary (the State Supreme Court, the court of appeals, and the circuit courts) includes several initiatives intended to generate program flexibility and efficiencies through the creation of two block grants, Supreme Court Block Grant and Circuit Court Block Grant. The governor has also proposed the consolidation and elimination of several programs. This includes a proposal to eliminate the Judicial Council, the consolidation of appropriations for the Judicial Commission under the State Supreme Court, the creation of a Judicial Compensation Commission, and the modification of surcharge exemptions and court interpreter fees.

The governor’s recommended budget allocation for the Judiciary is $138 million in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 and $138 million in FY 2017 for all funds (General Purpose Revenue – GPR, Program Revenue – PR, Segregated Revenue – SEG). This is a 0.27 percent increase from the adjusted base to the recommended FY 2016 budget and a 0.05 percent increase from FY 2016 to 2017. Over the biennium, the governor recommends a $76,400 increase to the judiciary’s budget. A breakdown of those totals is as follows:

• The governor’s recommended budget for the State Supreme Court is $29.76 million for FY 2016 and $29.81 million for FY 2017. This is a 5.6 percent decrease from the adjusted base to the recommended FY 2016 budget and a 0.2 percent increase from FY 2016 to 2017.
• The governor’s recommended budget for the court of appeals is $10.67 million for FY 2016 and $10.70 million for FY 2017. This is a 2.6 percent increase from the adjusted base to the recommended FY 2016 budget and a 0.3 percent increase from FY 2016 to 2017.
• The governor’s recommended budget for the circuit courts is $97.70 million for FY 2016 and 2017. This is a 1.9 percent increase from the adjusted base to the recommended FY 2016 and 2017 budgets.

Other recommended budget initiatives in the governor’s judiciary budget include:

Supreme Court Block Grant

The governor recommends consolidating GPR appropriations for the director of state courts and the state law library under the Director of State Courts and Law Library general program operations appropriation, funded at $10.3 million GPR each fiscal year. The governor recommends these appropriations be changed from annual to biennial. However, the proposed consolidation of these appropriations does not include a decrease in revenue to these programs. Furthermore, the governor recommends transferring the appropriation for library collections and services to the Director of State Courts and Law Library general program operations appropriation. The block grant system is designed to give Supreme Court justices more flexibility to determine how to spend its appropriation.

Circuit Court Block Grant

The governor recommends the creation of a new appropriation for circuit courts in the form of a block grant. Individual appropriations for court interpreter fees, circuit court support payments, and guardian ad litem costs will be transferred to the block grant. This block grant will be funded at $48 million GPR annually. Furthermore, all funding and position authority (527.0 FTE) from the circuit courts sum sufficient appropriation is recommended to be transferred to the block grant. In addition, all statutory language associated with these costs is recommended to be deleted.

Under the governor’s proposed budget, he suggests the repeal of appropriations for statutory court interpreter fees, circuit court support payments, guardian ad litem costs, and violent crime court costs and programs.

The intent of the block grant program is to provide the circuit courts with greater flexibility to determine how their appropriations are spent. However, there is an error in the governor’s current budget recommendation that has not included full funding increases and related costs provided under a “standard budget adjustment” for 278 court reporter positions. The governor has stated that this was an oversight and lawmakers will fix this in the final budget.

Elimination of Surcharge Exemptions

Currently there are various exemptions from the civil clerk fee and justice information fee for failure to wear a seatbelt, smoking in a public place, failure to carry proof of motor vehicle insurance, and failure to carry a handicap permit. The governor recommends removing these fee exemptions. Projected revenue increases from the proposed changes are $348,800 PR and $871,900 GPR.

The governor also recommends adding “intoxicated operation of an aircraft” to the list of offense subject to the blood withdrawal surcharge.

Judicial Commission

The Judicial Commission was created by the state legislature in 1978 in response to the state constitution being amended. The Commission is currently independent of the State Supreme Court. Its function is to investigate possible misconduct and disability of judges and determine whether there is probable cause of either. If the Commission finds probable cause then it initiates and prosecutes a proceeding against the judge in the Wisconsin Supreme Court (unless a  State Supreme Court justice is being prosecuted at which point a panel of three court of appeals judges will sit in judgment). The Supreme Court then determine if sanctions are needed and what, if any, sanctions are appropriate. The governor proposes to move the appropriations for administering the Judicial Compensation Commission to the Supreme Court. The governor’s proposal does not change the composition or function of the commission. However, some (such as Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson) are concerned that if the Supreme Court administers the appropriations of the Commission, then the Commission will seem dependent on, and thus biased towards, the Supreme Court. The proposal includes the creation of 2.0 additional FTE positions and the expenditure of $603,200 GPR over the biennium.

Judicial Council

The governor proposes the elimination of the Judicial Council and its appropriations. The Judicial Council advises the Supreme Court, legislature, and governor on potential changes to the rules of pleading, practice, and procedure that would simplify procedure and promote a speedy determination of litigation on its merits. The Judicial Council also recommends changes to the business of the courts to the legislature.

Chief Justice Salary

The governor proposes eliminating the state statute that provides that the chief justice of the  State Supreme Court must receive a different salary than the associate justices. The governor has stated the rationale behind this change is to allow all justices’ salaries to be raised.

Judicial Salaries & Judicial Compensation Commission

The governor proposes that the director of the Office of State Employment Relations can no longer recommend salary changes of Supreme Court justices, court of appeals judges, and circuit court judges to the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCER). Instead, the governor proposes the creation of a Judicial Compensation Commission. The Commission will review judicial salaries biennially and make recommendations annually via a written report on the status of those salaries to JCER and the governor’s office. The Director of State Courts will provide staff and support services to the judicial compensation commission. The chief justice’s salary is currently $155,403. A current associate justice salary is $147,403.

Division of Hearings and Appeals

The governor proposes repealing the requirement that the Division of Hearings and Appeals (DHA) must appoint hearing examiners to make findings and orders in contested cases of crime victim compensation and contested cases involving health care providers. Instead, the governor proposes that the Department of Justice (DOJ) be able to issue initial decisions in these cases. The DOJ would have the ability to contract out to the DHA to provide these services.

CCAP Revenue Decrease

The governor proposes a decrease in the CCAP allocation by $3.3 million annually from base funding of $10 million PR annually to $6.6 million PR annually to reflect recent expenditures in the 2013-15 biennium. The state spent $7.5 million PR on CCAP in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

Uniform Chart of Accounts

The governor proposes the elimination of the current statutory provision authorizing the Director of State Courts to create a uniform chart of accounts that each circuit court is required to use to record all financial transactions relating to the operation of the circuit. The director could the audit financial information provided by the circuit courts. The governor also proposes the deletion of the requirement that the director of state courts annually report the financial data from the uniform chart to the governor and the legislature.

Court Interpreters Funding

The governor proposes using revenues from penalty surcharges instead of justice information surcharges in order to fund courtroom interpreters.