Appropriations for FY2005: Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Page: 65 of 94
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CRS-58
cases needs to be raised to a level where, upon finishing a capital case, a lawyer will
be willing to take on more such cases in the future.
On June 23, 2004, the House Appropriations Committee approved, H.R. 4754,
its CJS-Judiciary appropriations bill for FY2005. For the Defender Services account
the Appropriations Committee recommended $676.5 million. The recommendation,
as the Judiciary requested, provided panel attorneys with an inflationary pay rate
increase and increased the hourly rate for representation in capital cases from $127
to $159. The committee noted that its recommendation also included, as the
Judiciary requested, an increase of $45.9 million above the FY2004 appropriation for
additional representations of indigents in non-capital cases. The committee-
approved funding amount for Defender Services in FY2005 was left unchanged when
the House passed H.R. 4754 on July 8, 2004.
On September 15, 2004, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved S.
2809, its FY2005 CJS-Judiciary appropriations bill. For the Defender Services
account, the Appropriations Committee recommended $648.1 million. In its report
(S.Rept. 108-344, at p. 125), the committee recommended that, effective January 1,
2005, the hourly rates payable to panel attorneys in capital cases be increased to
$160, $1 more per hour than the Judiciary-requested and House-approved rate. This
increase, the committee said, was needed "to maintain a high quality of panel
representations."
In addition, S. 2809 as reported increased the maximum compensation limits for
panel attorneys specified under Section 3006A(d)(2) of title 18 of the U.S. Code.
(The bill, for instance, increased the maximum compensation for a panel attorney
representing a defendant before a federal magistrate or district court judge in a case
in which one or more felonies are charged, from $5,200 to $7000. Other pay rate
maximums, such as for representing a defendant in an appellate court, or in a case in
which only misdemeanors are charged, also are increased in the bill.) In its report,
the Appropriations Committee said the increase in maximum pay limits was included
in S. 2809 "to make the representation compensation more accurately reflect actual
expenses." The committee said that the case compensation maximum amounts
currently in effect "are creating an unnecessary hardship on panel attorneys, court
staff, and judges."
As noted above, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 108-447, enactedDecember 8, 2004) appropriates $676.4 million for Defender Services in FY2005
compared with $676.5 million earlier approved by the House and $648.1 million
recommended by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The appropriation,
however, is subject to a 1.34% cut in discretionary spending (as the result of two
rescissions in the act which affect Judiciary budget accounts), leaving Defender
Services with $667.3 million in available funding for FY2005. In their report
(H.Rept. 108-792, at p. 816), conferees for the omnibus bill adopted by reference
report language of the Senate Appropriations Committee regarding an increase in the
hourly rate for panel attorneys in capital cases and an increase in the case
compensation maximum for panel attorneys in non-capital cases.
Court Security. For Court Security in FY2005, the Judiciary requested
$383.3 million, compared with $274.58 million enacted for FY2004, a 39.6%
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Fergusson, Ian F. & Epstein, Susan B. Appropriations for FY2005: Commerce, Justice, State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies, report, January 12, 2005; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metacrs7885/m1/65/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.