Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, Apr. 12, 2012
House Committee’s budget proposal a mixed bag
Yesterday, the House Ways and Means Committee released its budget recommendations for the upcoming
2013 fiscal year. The committee's recommendation for Trial Court
funding is approximately $554.6 million. This planned appropriation
is $25 million below the courts' estimated FY13 maintenance budget
of $580 million, and $14 million less than Gov. Deval Patrick's
earlier recommendation. The Massachusetts Bar Association will
continue to strongly press its efforts to increase funding for the
courts. The budget hits the House floor for debate the week of
April 23.
The House Committee also declined to endorse Patrick's FY13 plan
to further expand the use of public defenders to handle criminal
caseloads for the Committee for Public Counsel Services. Last
year's budget mandated that 25 percent of the criminal cases
overseen by CPCS must be assigned to state-employed public
defenders.
Proposed funding for the Massachusetts Legal Assistance
Corporation (MLAC) is $11 million. MLAC's current FY12 funding is
$10.5 million, after the corporation received a $1 million bump in
a supplemental budget appropriation.