HB 203 (BR 828) - S. Rudy, J. Nemes

     AN ACT making appropriations for the operations, maintenance, support, and functioning of the Judicial Branch of the government of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and its various officers, boards, commissions, subdivisions, and other state-supported activities.
     The Judicial Branch Budget: appropriate $440,265,200 in fiscal year 2018-2019 and $445,291,600 in fiscal year 2019-2020 from the General Fund, Restricted Funds, and Federal Funds; provide General Fund moneys for pay equity initiative; provide General Fund moneys for defined calculations; provide General Fund moneys to replace Federal Funds; provide that funds in the Court Operations and Administration appropriation unit carry forward; provide that if the Supreme Court retains the 2008 increase in civil filing fees, the additional income, not to exceed $5,000,000 in each fiscal year, shall be deposited in a trust and agency account for court operations; provide General Fund moneys for local facility assessments; provide General Fund moneys for increased CERS rates on janitorial and maintenance staff in judicial centers and courthouses; provide funds to compensate local units of government for providing court space and for costs incurred in the development of local court facilities; provide that funds in the Local Facilities Fund carry forward; provide that funds in the Local Facilities Use Allowance Contingency Fund carry forward; provide funds for actuarial-assessed judicial retirement benefits; detail project scope and use allowance payments for Bath, Butler, Crittenden, Jessamine, and Jefferson County court houses; authorize lease purchase of a Court of Appeals office building in Franklin County; provide General Fund support for use allowance payments for Jefferson County; defer General Fund support for operating costs, annualized use allowance payments, and nonrecurring furniture and equipment costs for Bath, Butler, Crittenden, and Jessamine Counties to the 2020-2022 fiscal biennium; authorize leases; clarify that nothing in this bill shall reduce funding of court facility projects authorized by the General Assembly; provide that if a court facility project is occupied and use allowance funding is insufficient that use allowance payments must be approved from the Local Facilities Use Allowance Contingency Fund, or if funds are not available in the Local Facilities Use Allowance Contingency Fund, the use allowance payments shall be deemed a necessary government expense; provide the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts with expenditure authority; provide for severability of budget provisions and priority of individual appropriations; declare that KRS 48.312 controls duplicate appropriations; clarify that KRS 48.313 controls when a total or subtotal of the bill conflicts with a sum of the appropriations of which it consists; provide that any unexpended balance remaining in the Court's Restricted Funds or Federal Funds accounts carry forward; provide for the final budget document; provide for the transferability of funds; provide for appropriations revisions; include funds for trial commissioner salaries as provided for in the Judicial Branch Budget Recommendation; provide that issuance of paychecks scheduled for June 30, 2018, June 30, 2019, and June 30, 2020, shall not be issued prior to July 1, 2018, July 1, 2019, and July 1, 2020; provide for participation in any Budget Reduction Plan or Surplus Expenditure Plan.