Monday, May 3, 2010- first day of the final week?

Now that the restructuring bill (H.470) is out of committee you can read it in full in today’s Senate Notice Calendar, beginning on page 2353. Published there it is 102 pages in length. There will be amendments offered, no doubt, tomorrow which should appear on tomorrow’s calendar. Although the bill is written as a “strike all”, it is not completely different than the house passed version. The important differences, as I wrote about last week, are in the sections dealing with side judges and probate judges. The side judge piece is in section 198 on page 2429. This transfer the duty to pay to the counties when side judges sit with a presiding judge; the state will continue to compensate those 8 (I believe it’s 8) that hear small claims cases as well as those that hear judicial bureau cases. On the next page in section 199 you’ll find the new salary scale for probate judges. The Senate Judiciary Committee had to find a delicate balance between keeping 14 judges and compensating them in a way that would still reach the targeted savings. You’ll see that four counties-Bennington, Rutland, Windham, and Windsor actually see increases in probate judge compensation. Remember that three of these four presently have two probate districts: Bennington already consolidated upon the retirement of Doris Buchanan. I know that many of the probate judges are unhappy with this pay scale but I don’t expect an amendment to change that on the Senate floor. But we still have to get through a committee of conference and there anything can happen! Anyway, here is a link to an outline prepared by Erik Fitzpatrick, legislative counsel to the judiciary committees, as well as a two page summary of how the money works prepared by Maria Royle of the Joint Fiscal Office:
http://www.vtbar.org/Upload%20Files/WebPages/blawg/h470.pdf
The handwritten note is mine from Friday’s committee discussion. I expect the outline to be used by senators during the floor debate which I expect wil happen Tuesday. I’ll keep you posted as things develop. Thanks for reading.