Honorable David Dewhurst , Lieutenant Governor, Senate Honorable Joe Straus, Speaker of the House, House of Representatives
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB497 by Wentworth (Relating to compensation paid to certain judges and justices.), Conference Committee Report
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Government Code by making the Judiciary Section, Comptroller's Department, rather than the Texas Judicial Council the entity responsible for the payment of salary supplements for district judges presiding over asbestos- or silica-related multidistrict litigation cases. Funding for the supplements are $63,250 each fiscal year. Because the bill would transfer statutory authority for paying the salary supplements from one agency to another, no fiscal implication is anticipated for this provision. The bill would also clarify that judicial longevity pay does not constitute additional salary for purposes of determining whether a judge's salary exceeds the statutory maximum. The bill would provide that monthly longevity pay is equal to the product of 3.1 percent of a judge's current monthly salary, provided the judge has served 16 years rather than $20 for each year of service. This provision is expected to increase monthly longevity payments for eligible judges, but does not represent a significant fiscal implication.
Local Government Impact
The bill would authorize a county commissioners court to provide longevity pay to a judge or justice who would otherwise be eligible for such pay if the service credit the judge or justice earned as a statutory county court judge was established in the retirement system. It is assumed that the bill would not have a significant fiscal implication to local government because county commissioners would only authorize longevity pay if the county had sufficient resources to absorb the costs.
Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council