Last night, the Massachusetts House passed a $34 billion budget bill after three days of deliberations. Thank you to everyone who took the time to make visits, send emails and make calls to your representatives- it made a difference.
Here are the highlights. . .
The two outside sections of the budget that were of great concern to the Committee on Public Counsel Services were not adopted by the House. These outside sections would have created an indigent defense committee charged with awarding 25% of District Court cases in Middlesex County to attorneys affiliated with private or non-profit entities on a capped flat fee basis.
The Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation ended up with $13 million in the House budget. While this is not the $15.5 million that MLAC requested, it is $1 million more than last year’s appropriation.
As for the Judiciary, the good news was that the House unanimously approved a pay raise for all Trial and Appellate judges for the first time since 2006. The increase would take effect in three steps starting January 1, 2014.
For Trial Court Judges the compensation levels would increase as follows:
- January 1, 2014 $144,694
- July 1, 2014 $154,694
- July 1, 2015 $159,694
Appellate court judges also received comparable dollar increases. During the budget debate, Judiciary Chair Eugene O’Flaherty took the lead on this issue. He and other members of the House spoke persuasively about the need for an increase in judicial compensation for the Massachusetts Judiciary.
In addition to the judicial pay raise, the Trial Court received an additional $6 million, bringing their appropriation up to $573.8 million. This is still $15. 7 million less than their maintenance budget request for Fiscal Year 2014.
Please be sure to thank your own representative for supporting and advocating on behalf of these important issues. The budget process now moves to the Senate where it will be debated in May. After that, a conference committee will aim to deliver a final budget in time for the July 1 start of Fiscal Year 2014.
There’s still work to be done. As for MLAC, we will continue to work to bring that number back up to $15.5 million in the Senate. For the Judiciary, we will focus on the Trial Court’s maintenance request and bringing the judicial compensation increase as close as possible to the recommendations of the Guzzi Report– something that we, too, support.
– Kathleen Joyce
Director of Government Relations
Boston Bar Association
