Lawyers e-Journal
Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012
Legislative News
Governor files FY13 budget recommendations
Yesterday, Gov. Deval L. Patrick filed his budget
recommendations for fiscal year 2013. Recognizing the tremendous
cuts already endured by the court system, Patrick recommends level
funding for the courts. Further, Patrick recommends removing the
Probation Department from the auspices of the court and seeks to
place it with parole under the Executive Office of Public Safety.
Additionally, in a repeat of his last year's stance on
restructuring the Committee for Public Counsel Services, Patrick
proposes to further expand the use of public attorneys instead of
state contracting with private counsel. Additionally, Patrick
recommends enhanced efforts on indigency verification.
Also, Patrick allocates $12 million for the Massachusetts Legal
Assistance Corporation. That is a $1.5 million bump from FY12
funding levels. You may recall, MLAC received $1 million in
supplemental funding last week bringing FY12 funding to $10.5
million.
The House and Senate will take up their own versions of the budget
in the spring. The Massachusetts Bar Association will continue to
vigorously advocate for full funding for our courts.