PRIOR PASSAGE - NONE
PRINTER'S NO. 340
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
320
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY CALTAGIRONE, THOMAS, COHEN, KOTIK, HARKINS, MURT
AND GINGRICH, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 4, 2015
A JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, in Judiciary, providing for financial
affairs and budgets.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby resolves as follows:
Section 1. The following amendment to the Constitution of
Pennsylvania is proposed in accordance with Article XI:
That Article V be amended by adding a section to read:
ยง 19. Financial affairs and budgets.
(a) All fees, charges and other moneys received by all
courts in this Commonwealth, with the exception of payments
mandated to a party by court order or for a client security fund
shall be directly deposited in a separate fund within the State
Treasury to be known as the Judiciary Operations Fund.
(b) The Judiciary Operations Fund shall be administered by
the Supreme Court for the operation of the Judicial Branch and
the moneys of the fund are appropriated to the Supreme Court.
(c) The Supreme Court shall appoint staff and prepare and
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administer the budget of the Judicial Branch and undertake
actions needed to ensure its efficient operation. All budget
actions of the Supreme Court shall require approval by a
majority vote of the members of the Supreme Court. If the
Supreme Court is unable to achieve a majority vote for the
Judiciary Budget in a fiscal year, the previous fiscal year's
budget minus 3% shall be implemented until a new budget is
achieved by a majority vote of the members of the Supreme Court.
(d) The Judiciary Operations Fund shall be subject to audits
made in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards
and shall be performed by the Auditor General and an annual
report shall be delivered to the Governor and the General
Assembly.
(e) If the total fees, charges and other moneys received by
the courts and deposited into the Judiciary Operations Fund are
not adequate to meet the operating expenses of the Judicial
Branch, the Supreme Court shall submit a budget request to the
Governor and the General Assembly by April 1 and the Governor
and General Assembly shall consider the request in the normal
budget process. The Supreme Court may submit a budget request to
the Governor and General Assembly if the Judiciary Branch faces
an unforeseen substantial expenditure. The fund may carry a
surplus of no more than 3% of the total judiciary operating
budget from the previous year and any amounts more than 3% shall
be transferred into the General Fund.
Section 2. (a) Upon the first passage by the General
Assembly of this proposed constitutional amendment, the
Secretary of the Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to
comply with the advertising requirements of section 1 of Article
XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the
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required advertisements to two newspapers in every county in
which such newspapers are published in sufficient time after
passage of this proposed constitutional amendment.
(b) Upon the second passage by the General Assembly of this
proposed constitutional amendment, the Secretary of the
Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to comply with the
advertising requirements of section 1 of Article XI of the
Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the required
advertisements to two newspapers in every county in which such
newspapers are published in sufficient time after passage of
this proposed constitutional amendment. The Secretary of the
Commonwealth shall submit this proposed constitutional amendment
to the qualified electors of this Commonwealth at the first
primary, general or municipal election which meets the
requirements of and is in conformance with section 1 of Article
XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and which occurs at least
three months after the proposed constitutional amendment is
passed by the General Assembly.
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